Leygue E, Dotzlaw H, Watson P H, Murphy L C
Department of Biochemistry, University of Manitoba, Faculty of Medicine, Winnipeg, Canada.
Cancer Res. 1998 Aug 1;58(15):3197-201.
Using a multiplex reverse transcription-PCR assay, we compared the relative expression of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ER-beta mRNA between adjacent samples of normal breast tissue and matched primary breast tumors obtained from 18 different patients. Within this cohort, 7 tumors were ER negative, and 11 tumors were ER positive, as determined by the ligand binding assay. No differences in the ratio of ER-alpha:ER-beta expression were observed in the ER-negative cohort. However, in the ER-positive cohort, a significantly (P < 0.02) higher ER-alpha:ER-beta ratio was observed in the tumor compared with that of the normal tissue component. Our data revealed that the increase in the ER-alpha:ER-beta ratio was due primarily to a significant (P < 0.05) increase in ER-alpha mRNA expression in conjunction with a lower ER-beta mRNA expression in the tumor compared with that of the normal compartment in some, but not all, ER-positive cases. These results suggest that the role of ER-alpha- and ER-beta-driven pathways and/or their interaction change during breast tumorigenesis.
我们使用多重逆转录聚合酶链反应（multiplex reverse transcription-PCR）检测法，比较了来自18位不同患者的正常乳腺组织相邻样本与配对原发性乳腺肿瘤中雌激素受体（ER）α和ER-β mRNA的相对表达。在该队列中，通过配体结合试验确定，7例肿瘤为ER阴性，11例肿瘤为ER阳性。在ER阴性队列中，未观察到ER-α:ER-β表达比例的差异。然而，在ER阳性队列中，与正常组织成分相比，肿瘤中ER-α:ER-β比例显著升高（P < 0.02）。我们的数据显示，在部分（并非全部）ER阳性病例中，与正常组织相比，肿瘤中ER-α:ER-β比例的增加主要是由于ER-α mRNA表达显著增加（P < 0.05），同时ER-β mRNA表达降低。这些结果表明，在乳腺肿瘤发生过程中，ER-α和ER-β驱动的信号通路及其相互作用发生了变化。
