Can the expression pattern of estrogen receptor alpha and beta proteins in papillary thyroid carcinoma be of prognostic value?
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abstract
Increasing incidence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in women suggests a potential role for estrogen and its receptor (ER) subtypes. In this study, we investigated the functional activity and expression pattern of estrogen receptor subtypes in PTC. We measured serum and thyroid tissue estradiol (E2) level, functional activity of ER by assessing its ligand binding activity (LBA), expression level of ER a and ER proteins in 68 patients with PTC. ER LBA significantly increased in all PTC patients tested. ER a expression increased in 58.82% male and 50.98% female PTC. ER expression decreased in 72.54% female but increased in 88.23% male PTC samples indicating a sex specific differential expression. In female PTC increased ER a positively correlated with LBA. ER negatively correlated with LBA and ER a subtype. In male PTC, increased ER a positively correlated with ER . However, no significant correlation was observed between ER LBA and either of ER subtypes. Conclusions: Change in the level of expression of ER subtypes in PTC tissues significantly affects papillary thyroid tumor growth with ER a showing pro-mitogenic property, while ER appears to be antimitogenic. Hence, analyzing the expression pattern of estrogen receptors may have good prognostic value in the diagnosis of PTC.
