Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on June 7, 2006
Annals of Oncology 2006 17(8):1213-1220; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdl118
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© 2006 European Society for Medical Oncology
Extranuclear expression of hormone receptors in primary breast cancer
1 International Radiation Information Center; 2 Department of Pathology, Hiroshima Asa City Hospital; 3 Department of Pathology, Hiroshima University Hospital; 4 Department of Surgical Oncology, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University; 5 Department of Pathology, Division of Medical Intelligence and Informatics Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
* Correspondence to: Dr R. Kim, International Radiation Information Center, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, 1–2–3 Kasumi Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan. Tel and Fax: +81 82 257 5877; E-mail: rkim{at}hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Background: Hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer cells grow through estrogen receptor (ER)-signaling pathways that mediate both genomic and nongenomic actions, which cross-talk with growth factors associated with resistance to tamoxifen. The aim of this study was to explore the cross-talk between extranuclear expression of ER and progesterone receptor (PR) and growth factor signaling pathways in primary breast cancer.
Patients and methods: The extranuclear expression of ER and PR was examined in 219 primary breast cancers by immunohistochemical staining. Specimens showing such expression were further examined for the expression of pAkt and aromatase. Staining reactions were scored on the basis of intensity and distribution in the tumors.
Results: Extranuclear expression of ER or PR was observed in 21 cases (9.5%), which included four cases for ER and 20 cases for PR. Among these patients, HER-2, pAkt, and aromatase-positivity were observed in 14 cases (66.6%), 13 cases (61.9%), and 14 cases (66.6%), respectively. On the basis of nuclear HR expression, 11 of these cases were categorized as ER-positive/PR-negative, while two were ER-negative/PR-positive. Of these 13 cases, increased pAkt staining was found in 11 cases (84.6%). In particular, among the 11 ER-positive/PR-negative cases, elevated pAkt and aromatase were found in 10 (90.9%; P < 0.01) and nine cases (81.8%), respectively.
Conclusions: PR is expressed extranuclearly more frequently than ER in primary breast cancer, and extranuclear HRs cross-talk with the Akt/HER-2-signaling pathways and activation of aromatase. These observations may explain the more beneficial effects of aromatase inhibitors than tamoxifen for ER-positive/PR-negative patients.
Key words: hormone receptor, extranuclear expression, Akt, HER-2, breast cancer
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