Abstract
The study aimed at evaluating steroid biomarker genes (ERα, PGR, ERβ) and determining the expression level of estrogen-regulated genes (SCUB2 and BCL2) and growth factors receptors (HER2 and IGFR1) in cancer tissue samples obtained from Iranian patients with breast cancer. Moreover, relationships with clinicopathologic aspects of tumor and response to treatment were studied. The current study was conducted on 246 breast tissue samples. The expression levels of these genes and their relationships with clinicopathologic aspects and treatment response were evaluated. Based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) results, 12% of the ER negative patients expressed ERα. Comparing the effects of ERα and coexpression of BCL2 and SCUBE2 on the survival of the patients demonstrated remarkably poorer survival in ERα positive, SCUBE2, and BCL2 negative groups in comparison with other patients, which was statistically significant in the log-rank analysis (P = 0.01). Evaluation of the effects of coexpression of HER2 and IGFR1 on patients' survival demonstrated a worse survival rate in patients with positive expression of both receptors, which was insignificant. Many studies suggest that PGR alone is not enough for the functional evaluation of ERα. Evaluation of the progesterone receptor expression as well as other genes such as BLC2, SCUBE2, and IGFR1, seems necessary to evaluate functionality.
Highlights
Today, cancer studies are focused on finding diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic biomarkers
Tissue samples along with clinicopathologic data were obtained from the Breast Cancer Research Center Biobank (BCRC-BB), Iran
Twelve percent of ER- patients expressed ERα. The expression of this gene was absent in 5% of ER+ patients, but ERβ expression was almost the same in ER+ and ER- groups. This pattern was observed for progesterone receptor (PGR), SCUBE2, and B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (BCL2) expression as estrogen related genes
Summary
Cancer studies are focused on finding diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic biomarkers. These biomarkers are commonly assessed in tumor tissues by categorizing patients into different subgroups leading to the selection of effective therapeutic methods. The study aimed at evaluating steroid biomarker genes (ERα, PGR, ERβ) and determining the expression level of estrogen-regulated genes (SCUB2 and BCL2) and growth factors receptors (HER2 and IGFR1) in cancer tissue samples obtained from Iranian patients with breast cancer. Arch Iran Med. 2021;24(3):209–217. doi: 10.34172/ aim.2021.32
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