Quantitation of estradiol receptors alpha and beta and progesterone receptors in human breast tumors by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction: Correlation with protein assays

• Published in: Biochemical pharmacology 2002-08, Vol.64 (3), p.507-515
• Main Authors: Cremoux, Patricia de, Tran-Perennou, Carine, Elie, Caroline, Boudou, Evelyne, Barbaroux, Catherine, Poupon, Marie France, Rycke, Yann De, Asselain, Bernard, Magdelénat, Henri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - chemistry; Computer Systems; ERα and β; Estrogen Receptor alpha; Estrogen Receptor beta; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Hormone receptors; Humans; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Quantitative RT-PCR; Receptors, Estradiol - analysis; Receptors, Estrogen - analysis; Receptors, Progesterone - analysis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Tumors
• ISSN: 0006-2952; 1873-2968
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-2952(02)01187-5

Hormone receptor content is the most useful parameter for predicting hormone response therapy in breast cancer. The high frequency of primary and secondary resistance to treatment makes it necessary to find out other parameters in order to improve the prediction of response to treatment. The newly described estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is a potential candidate. Using real-time quantitative RT-PCR, we evaluated estrogen receptor α (ERα), ERβ, and progesterone receptors (PR) in comparison with ERα and PR protein content measured with the enzyme immunoassay (EIA), in a retrospective series of 98 breast tumors. We obtained a highly significant correlation between mRNA and EIA assays for ERα and PR ( r=0.79 and r=0.71, respectively; P