Abstract
The estrogen receptor (ER) exists in two forms known as ERα and ERβ. Currently, a clinical role has only been established for ERα. The primary use of ERα in breast cancer is for predicting likely response to hormone treatment. Patients with breast cancers expressing ERα are approximately seven to eight times more likely to benefit from endocrine therapy than ERα-negative patients. For the initial three to five years after primary diagnosis, ERα-positive patients generally have a better outcome than ERα-negative patients. Overall, however, the prognostic value of ERα is relatively weak and only of limited value in the clinically important subgroup of patients with lymph node-negative disease. Further work is required to establish if ERβ has a clinical role in breast cancer.
ABBREVIATIONS | ||
AF | = | activation function |
AI | = | aromatase inhibitor |
AIB | = | amplified-in-breast-cancer |
AKT | = | v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog |
ASCO | = | American Society of Clinical Oncology |
ATAC | = | arimidex, tamoxifen alone or in combination |
CARM | = | coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase |
CMF | = | cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-fluorouracil |
CRE | = | cyclic AMP-like response element |
DCIS | = | ductal carcinoma in situ |
EGF | = | epidermal growth factor |
ER | = | estrogen receptor |
ERE | = | estrogen response element |
HSP | = | heat-shock protein |
IBCSG | = | International Breast Cancer Study Group |
IGF | = | insulin-like growth factor |
LH-RH | = | luteinizing hormone releasing hormone |
MAPK | = | mitogen-activated protein kinase |
NCoR | = | nuclear receptor corepressor |
NF-kB | = | nuclear factor-kappa B |
PR | = | progesterone receptor |
SERMS | = | selective estrogen receptor modulators |
SMRT | = | silencing mediator of RAR (retinoic acid receptor) and TR (thyroid hormone) |
SRC | = | scavenger receptor cysteine-rich domain |
USF | = | upstream stimulating factor. |
ABBREVIATIONS | ||
AF | = | activation function |
AI | = | aromatase inhibitor |
AIB | = | amplified-in-breast-cancer |
AKT | = | v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog |
ASCO | = | American Society of Clinical Oncology |
ATAC | = | arimidex, tamoxifen alone or in combination |
CARM | = | coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase |
CMF | = | cyclophosphamide-methotrexate-fluorouracil |
CRE | = | cyclic AMP-like response element |
DCIS | = | ductal carcinoma in situ |
EGF | = | epidermal growth factor |
ER | = | estrogen receptor |
ERE | = | estrogen response element |
HSP | = | heat-shock protein |
IBCSG | = | International Breast Cancer Study Group |
IGF | = | insulin-like growth factor |
LH-RH | = | luteinizing hormone releasing hormone |
MAPK | = | mitogen-activated protein kinase |
NCoR | = | nuclear receptor corepressor |
NF-kB | = | nuclear factor-kappa B |
PR | = | progesterone receptor |
SERMS | = | selective estrogen receptor modulators |
SMRT | = | silencing mediator of RAR (retinoic acid receptor) and TR (thyroid hormone) |
SRC | = | scavenger receptor cysteine-rich domain |
USF | = | upstream stimulating factor. |