Expression of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Korea

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the rate of expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) and 131 (ER131), progesterone receptor (PR), and rate of overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in a relatively large cohort of patients with papil-lary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We also aimed to examine whether each receptor influenced clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of PTC. Materials and Methods We made a microarray of paraffin-embedded PTC surgical tissues from 436 patients. We compared the results of the immunohistochemical staining for each hormone receptor with clinicopathological characteristics. Results The positive expression rate of hormonal receptors was 40.4% for ER alpha, 83.7% for ER131, and 71.3% for PR in patients with PTC. Overexpression of EGFR was shown in 19.3% of patients with PTC. The age was lower (44.6 +/- 12.1 years vs. 47.1 +/- 12.5 years, p=0.040) and tumor smaller (0.96 +/- 0.69 cm vs. 1.13 +/- 0.82 cm, p=0.020) in the ER alpha positive group, which also showed higher PR positivity (80.7% vs. 65.0%, p < 0.001) and overexpression of EGFR (27.3% vs. 13.8%, p < 0.001). However, neither the positivity of hormone receptors nor overexpression of EGFR affected the recurrence of PTC. Conclusion In conclusion, most (94.6%) patients with PTC were found to exhibit positive expression for ERs or PR. We also found that neither the positive expression of hormone receptors nor overexpression of EGFR were associated with the recurrence of PTC.

Automated summary

The study found that the majority of PTC patients exhibited positive expression of ERs or PR, but the expression rates of hormone receptors or overexpression of EGFR were not associated with PTC recurrence.