科研之友
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摘要
Aims: We aimed to investigate the sources of estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha), estrogen receptor beta (ER beta) and estimate the value of both ER subtypes in gastric adenocarcinoma and analyze the possible relationship of prothymosin alpha (ProT alpha) to ERs. Methods: ERs at the mRNA and protein levels in matched advanced gastric adenocarcinomas and surrounding non-cancerous tissues were examined by using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical (IHC) methods. Cell proliferation related protein ProT alpha was also detected in IHC. The immunoreactive signal, corresponding to the proteins expression level, was quantitatively analyzed. Results: Both ER alpha and ER beta mRNAs were detected in most of the cancer and matched normal tissues analyzed. At the protein level, the percentage of ER alpha and ER beta positive cases changed. ER alpha immunoreactivity was only detected in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and ER alpha. positive expression correlated with depth of invasion of the tumors. Compared with non-cancerous tissues, gastric tumors showed decreased ER beta expression and lost ER beta. Altered ER beta in gastric adenocarcinoma correlated with decreased differentiation. And the tumors involved lymph node metastasis showed significantly lower expression level of ER beta. ProT alpha in ER beta-positive tumors showed higher expression than that in lost ER beta tumors. Conclusions: Altered expression of ER alpha and ER beta in tumors compared with corresponding normal gastric tissues was more common in poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas and related to malignant properties, such as lymph node metastasis. Decreased ER beta and increased ProT alpha. expression in advanced gastric adenocarcinoma indicated that ER beta may play an anti-proliferation role which is opposed to the role of ProT alpha. in gastric epithelium.
