The Role of Strogen Receptor β Expression and its Relationship with Tumor Characteristics in Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background and purpose: Breast cancer is the 1st most common cancer in the female population and the third leading cause of cancer mortality in Ladies. Given the importance of early detection of cancer, it is necessary to find biomarkers related to this disease that are essential for the prognosis and early diagnosis of breast cancer. The estrogen receptor gene for beta, whose full name is Estrogen Receptor-β (ESRβ). Our main aim in this study was to investigate the expression changes of this gene in cancer tissue tumor samples compared to normal tissue samples to obtain a biomarker to predict the risk of cancer. Materials and methods: In this research, in 2023 samples were obtained from 30 patients diagnosed with breast cancer who underwent surgery at Omid Hospital in Mashhad. Both tumor tissue and adjacent healthy tissue were collected from each patient. The diagnosis of breast cancer was confirmed by a specialist doctor, and none of the patients had received any prior treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Tissue samples were collected immediately after surgery and stored at -70°C. RNA extraction and synthesis were performed, followed by analysis of the expression of the ESR gene along with the GAPDH gene as an internal control, using real-time PCR. Results: In this study, 30 cancer patients were examined, with ages ranging from 32 to 62 years old and a mean age of 47.5 ± 9.38. Among them, one person had tumor grade 1, 16 had grade 2 tumors, and 8 had grade 3 tumors. Metastasis was observed in 11 patients (36.7%), while 19 patients (63.3%) had no metastasis. Regarding tumor size distribution, 5 patients (16.7%) had tumors smaller than 1 cm, and 25 patients (83.3%) had tumors sized between 1 and 2 cm. The study focused on changes in the expression of the ESRβ gene in both tumor and adjacent healthy tissues of breast cancer patients. It was found that the gene expression was higher in tumor samples compared to the adjacent healthy tissues. Using SPSS software, the analysis revealed a significant relationship between gene expression intensity and tumor grade across all three groups. Additionally, a significant difference was observed between patients with and without tumor metastasis. Conclusion: Overall, the findings of this study indicate a significant correlation between gene expression intensity and tumor grade across all three groups. Moreover, there is a significant distinction between patients with and without tumor metastasis. Notably, a considerable expression difference was observed between healthy and tumor samples. Hence, this gene could serve as a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• estrogen receptor-β
• biomarker
• gene expression
• real-time pcr