Assessment of ER-alpha and ER-beta expression levels in malicious tumors of the uterine corpus.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to present an assessment of the expression levels of estrogen receptors ER-alpha and ER-beta in malicious tumors of the uterine corpus. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Estrogen receptor expression levels were tested using semiquantitative immunohistochemical methods. Paraffin-embedded sections of tissue from the corpus of the uterus from 171 patients were used in the research. RESULTS: Analysis of the relation between ER-beta expression levels and the clinical grade of disease (based on FIGO classification) showed that these parameters are significantly related: p = 0.0099. There were no statistically significant relations between ER-alpha expression levels in tumors or clinical stages of tumors based on the FIGO criteria. The presence of high estrogen receptor beta expression levels is often accompanied by a low estrogen receptor alpha expression level and such arrangements allow the overt biological function of a dominant receptor. CONCLUSION: The differences in tissue distribution of both estrogen receptors could indicate their different biological roles.