Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) in breast cancer of Indian women

Abstract

Amit V Patil1, Rahul S Bhamre2, Rajeev Singhai3, Mukund B Tayade4, Vinayak W Patil31Department of General Surgery, Government Medical College, Miraj, Maharashtra, India; 2Department of General Surgery, DY Patil Hospital and Research Centre, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, India; 3Department of Biochemistry, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals Mumbai, India; 4Department of General Surgery, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals Mumbai, IndiaObjective: To determine the expressions and relationship between estrogen receptors (ERs) and progesterone receptors (PgRs) in breast cancer in Indian women.Participants: Surgically removed breast cancer tissues were collected from Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, India, taking (n = 300) cases of infiltrating duct cancer of Indian women after radical mastectomy and lumpectomy; the age- and menopausal-related subgroups satisfied this requirement.Measurements: Statistical significance was calculated by the likelihood ratio test; relative risk served to check for significant differences. Relapse-free interval probabilities were calculated according to Kaplan and Meier, with Cox–Mantel test comparing survival functions and P values.Results: We observed that only in middle-aged postmenopausal patients bearing pT2 tumors were ER and PgR receptors shown to have a prognostic significance with the lowest tested cutoff value being 5 fmol/mg.Conclusion: Immunohistochemistry analysis has been shown to be a prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer; the major aim of determining the ER receptor status is to assess predictive response to hormonal therapy.Keywords: prognostic cancer tissue biomarkers, immunohistochemistry, hormone receptors, steroid receptors