Relationships between survival and expressions of estrogen receptorαandβin non-smoking non- small cell lung cancer patients / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Background and purpose:The involvement of estrogen signaling in lung cancer is controversial. But the findings showed that ERβ might play an important role in neoplastic lung biology. Several studies have evaluated expression of ERβin both normal and neoplastic human lung tissues with variable conclusions. We aimed to evaluate the expressive of estrogen receptors (ER)α,βin non-smoking non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and investigate the relationships between the survival and expressions of ERα,β. Methods:Immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expression ERαand ERβin 144 NSCLC patients, and analyzed the expressions status of ERα,βand survival. Results:The positive rate of ERαwas 7.6%, only in adenocarcinoma cancer. The positive rate of ERβwas 52.1%, and the expressions of stageⅠandⅡwas signiifcantly higher than that of stageⅢandⅣ(P=0.020). The median survival time (MST) of ERβpositive expression was better than that of negative expression (43 months vs 38 months, P=0.028). The MST of ERβpositive expression of female patients was better than that of negative expression (45 months vs 37 months, P=0.033). The MST of ERβpositive expression of adenocarcinoma were 46 months and better than negative 38 months (P=0.021). Conclusion:The expression of ERβwas signiifcantly higher in early-stage non-smoking NSCLC. It indicated that the positive expression of ERβwas related to the better MST, especially in female adenocarcinoma patients.