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Expression and Prognostic Value of Oestrogen Receptor Beta in Colorectal Cancer

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Pathology & Oncology Research

Abstract

Differences between men and women in the incidence and biological mechanisms of colorectal cancer (CRC) suggest that estrogens may play a role in the pathogenesis of this disease. The identification of the human estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) and its expression in the intestinal mucosa led to further studies that revealed that estrogens have a protective function against CRC mediated by the activation of ERβ. However, ERβ expression and its role in CRC is controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution and prognostic value of ERβ expression in the intestinal mucosa of patients diagnosed and surgically treated for CRC, and its association with other known prognostic factors. A total of 109 paraffin-embedded samples of the wild-type ERβ isoform were analyzed by immunohistochemical nuclear staining in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma. Clinical/pathological and survival data were collected. Immunohistochemical quantification was performed using the category scoring system, which has been validated for assessing estrogen receptor alfa. The wild-type ERβ isoform –also called ERβ1– was positive in 101 patients (92.7%) and negative in nine patients (7.3%). Univariate analysis revealed that the absence of expression of the ERβ1 gene was correlated with mucinous adenocarcinoma (p < 0.05). Also, a non-significant tendency was observed for ERβ expression to be down-regulated in advanced tumors. With a median follow-up of 47 months, the overall survival and progression-free survival were not found to be associated with ERβ1 expression (p = 0.2). Although the wild-type ERβ isoform was expressed in most study patients with colorectal cancer, it does not seem to have any prognostic value for the course of the disease. Further studies should be conducted to investigate whether the down-regulation of ERβ expression has any biological function in mucinous colorectal cancer.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Andalusian Oncology Society (SAC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Oncology, Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, Malaga, Spain

    Elisabeth Pérez-Ruiz, Esperanza Torres, Isabel Sevilla, Emilio Alba & Lorenzo Alonso

  2. Division of Medical Oncology, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, Spain

    Elisabeth Pérez-Ruiz & Antonio Rueda

  3. Red de Investigación en Servicios de Salud (REDISSEC), Marbella, Spain

    Elisabeth Pérez-Ruiz, Antonio Rueda, Francisco Rivas-Ruiz, Maximino Redondo & Maria Padilla-Ruiz

  4. Patology Deparment, Hospital Hospital Virgen de la Victoria, Malaga, Spain

    Lidia Pérez, Vanesa de Luque & Martina Álvarez

  5. Research Unit, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, Spain

    Francisco Rivas-Ruiz, Maximino Redondo & Maria Padilla-Ruiz

Authors
  1. Elisabeth Pérez-Ruiz
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  2. Antonio Rueda
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  3. Lidia Pérez
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  7. Martina Álvarez
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  8. Isabel Sevilla
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  9. Maximino Redondo
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  11. Emilio Alba
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  12. Lorenzo Alonso
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elisabeth Pérez-Ruiz.

Ethics declarations

This study was performed in compliance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (Seul 2008). Informed consent was obtained from all participants. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital, Malaga, Spain, where the study was performed.

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The authors have no conflict of interest.

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Pérez-Ruiz, E., Rueda, A., Pérez, L. et al. Expression and Prognostic Value of Oestrogen Receptor Beta in Colorectal Cancer. Pathol. Oncol. Res. 24, 871–879 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-017-0301-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-017-0301-8

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