May progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) predict the risk of breast cancer?

Abstract

Objective: Our and other studies have pointed on an important role of progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) in development of breast cancer, especially in hormone therapy. To investigate if PGRMC1 could be used to predict the risk for getting breast cancer, we assessed in tissues of patients with primary invasive breast cancer, if the expression of PGRMC1 may be associated with the expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR), and ki67.

Methods: Samples from 109 patients with breast cancer between the years 2008 and 2014 were obtained with the patients’ consent. Each sample was evaluated for the ERα, PR, Ki67, and PGRMC1 expression by immunohistochemistry using serial sections from the ame paraffin block comparing malignant tissue to benign tissue.

Results: Expression of PGRMC1 is increased in tumor area compared with non-cancerous tissue and positively correlates with ERα expression (OR = 1.42 95%CI 1.06–1.91, p = 0.02). No association was obtained between expression of PGRMC1 and PR or Ki67.

Conclusion: It can be suggested that women with breast epithelium highly expressing PGRMC1 and in interaction with ERα may have an increased risk to develop breast cancer, especially when treated with hormone therapy.

Chinese abstract

目标：我们和先前的一些研究已经发现孕激素受体膜组分1（PGRMC1）在乳腺癌发生尤其是接受激素治疗过程中乳腺癌发生风险中起到重要的作用。为了研究PGRMC1是否可以用来预测乳腺癌发生风险，我们对原发性浸润性乳腺癌组织进行评估，观察PGRMC1表达情况是否与雌激素受体α（ERα）、孕激素受体（PR）及Ki67表达相关。

方法：选取2008年-2014年乳腺癌患者样本109例，所有患者均知情同意。免疫组化分别评估良恶性组织中ERα、PR、Ki67及PGRMC1的表达情况。

结果：与良性组织相比，PGRMC1在癌组织中高表达，并与ERα成正相关（OR = 1.42 95%CI 1.06–1.91, p= 0.02）；与PR、Ki67无相关性。

结论：PGRMC1在乳腺癌上皮组织中高表达及PGRMC1与ERα间的交互作用可能会增加乳腺癌的发生风险，尤其是在接受激素治疗时，乳腺癌发展的风险明显增加。

• Breast cancer
• estrogen receptor (ER)
• Ki67
• progesterone receptor (PR)
• progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1)

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper. Our research has been supported by Beijing Nova Program: Z14111000180000, China; Beijing Municipality Health Technology High-level Talent (2014-2-016); Project of Discipline Leader, Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University (2013-1), National Natural Science Foundation (No. 81172518)