Aim: To study estrogen receptor (ER) and estrogen receptor messenger RNA (ERmRNA) expression in gastric carcinoma tissues and to investigate their association with the pathologic types of gastric carcinoma.
Methods: The expression of ER and ERmRNA in gastric carcinoma tissues (15 males and 15 females, 42-70 years old) was detected by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization, respectively.
Results: The positive rate of ER (immunohistochemistry) was 33.3 % in males and 46.7 % in females. In Borrmann IV gastric carcinoma ER positive rate was greater than that in other pathologic types, and in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma the positive rates were greater than those in other histological types of both males and females (P<0.05). The ER was more highly expressed in diffused gastric carcinoma than in non-diffused gastric carcinoma (P<0.05). The ER positive rate was also related to regional lymph nodes metastases (P<0.05), and was significantly higher in females above 55 years old, and higher in males under 55 years old (P<0.05). The ERmRNA (in situ hybridization) positive rate was 73.3 % in males and 86.7 % in females. The ERmRNA positive rates were almost the same in Borrmann I, II, III and IV gastric carcinoma (P>0.05). ERmRNA was expressed in all tubular adenocarcinoma, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma (P<0.05). The ERmRNA positive rate was related to both regional lymph nodes metastases and gastric carcinoma growth patterns, and was higher in both sexes above 55 years old but without statistical significance (P>0.05). The positive rate of ERmRNA expression by in situ hybridization was higher than that of ER expression by immunohistochemistry (P<0.05).
Conclusion: ERmRNA expression is related to the pathological behaviors of gastric carcinoma, which might help to predict the prognosis and predict the effectiveness of endocrine therapy for gastric carcinoma.