Gulbahce H Evin, Blair Cindy K, Sweeney Carol, Salama Mohamed E
Departments of *Anatomic Pathology, Huntsman Cancer Hospital §Internal Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT †Department of Internal Medicine, University of New Mexico ‡University of New Mexico Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM.
Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2017 Sep;25(8):548-552. doi: 10.1097/PAI.0000000000000337.
Estrogen exposure is important in the pathogenesis of breast cancer and is a contributing risk factor. In this study we quantified estrogen receptor (ER) alpha expression in normal breast epithelium (NBR) in women with breast cancer and correlated it with breast cancer subtypes. Tissue microarrays were constructed from 204 breast cancer patients for whom normal breast tissue away from tumor was available. Slides stained with ER were scanned and expression in normal terminal duct lobular epithelium was quantitated using computer-assisted image analysis. ER expression in normal terminal duct lobular epithelium of postmenopausal women with breast cancer was significantly associated with estrogen and triple (estrogen, progesterone receptors, and HER2) negative phenotypes. Also increased age at diagnosis was significantly associated with ER expression in NBR. ER positivity in normal epithelium did not vary by tumor size, lymph node status, tumor grade, or stage. On the basis of quantitative image analysis, we confirm that ER expression in NBR increases with age in women with breast cancer, and report for the first time, a significant association between ER expression in NBR with ER-negative and triple-negative cancers in postmenopausal women.
雌激素暴露在乳腺癌发病机制中很重要，是一个促成风险因素。在本研究中，我们对乳腺癌女性正常乳腺上皮（NBR）中的雌激素受体（ER）α表达进行了定量，并将其与乳腺癌亚型相关联。从204例有远离肿瘤的正常乳腺组织的乳腺癌患者构建组织微阵列。扫描用ER染色的玻片，使用计算机辅助图像分析对正常终末导管小叶上皮中的表达进行定量。绝经后乳腺癌女性正常终末导管小叶上皮中的ER表达与雌激素及三阴性（雌激素、孕激素受体和HER2）表型显著相关。此外，诊断时年龄增加与NBR中的ER表达显著相关。正常上皮中的ER阳性在肿瘤大小、淋巴结状态、肿瘤分级或分期方面无差异。基于定量图像分析，我们证实乳腺癌女性中NBR的ER表达随年龄增加，并且首次报道绝经后女性NBR中的ER表达与ER阴性和三阴性癌症之间存在显著关联。
