Compared with ER or PR positive patients (n=868), patients with ER/PR loss (n=35) had deeper myometrial infiltration (p=0.012), severer FIGO stage (p=0.004), and higher rate of pelvic lymph node metastasis (p=0.020).
Multivariate COX regression analysis showed that clinical features, including lymph node metastasis and HER-2 positive, were significant risk factors for poor PFS [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.396 and 2.863, respectively]; high portion of estrogen receptor-positive cells was significant protective factor (HR = 0.663).
Moreover, higher SRs and TSs were associated with breast lesions with a high nuclear grade and lymph node metastasis and with being ER-negative, PR-negative, and HER-2 negative.
The expressions of ER, CD34 and p53 in the cancer tissue of case group were correlated with the existence of calcification, spicule sign and lymph node metastasis detected by Doppler ultrasound (p<0.05), but not associated with tumor diameter and morphology (p>0.05).
Positive expression of Lin28 was associated with lymph node metastases (<i>P</i><0.001), HER-2 (<i>P</i>=0.024), estrogen receptor (<i>P</i>=0.039), and progesterone receptor (<i>P</i>=0.027).
In addition, rs2881766 was correlated with lymph node metastasis and ER expression, and rs3020449 was related to tumor size, histological grade and ER expression.
Although differential gene expression analysis was based on lymph node metastasis status, many genes were shown to be differentially expressed based on estrogen receptor status.
Increased PES1 and ERα protein levels and decreased ERβ protein level were correlated with the aggressive behaviors of PTC patients such as large tumor size, extrathyroidal extension (ETE), lymph node metastasis (LNM), high BRAFV600E expression and high TNM stage.
Expression of ECT2 in breast cancer was significantly higher than that of the normal control group (p<0.001), and it was related to tumour grade, the status of lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, recurrence status, menopausal status, and the Ki-67 proliferation index (p<0.05), and not related to age, tumour size, tumour type, expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor 2, and triple-negative disease (p>0.05).
Furthermore, HDAC1 over-expression was associated with positive estrogen receptor (ER) expression (OR, 3.30; 95% CI, 1.11-9.83; P = 0.03) and negative human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.22-2.61; P = 0.003), but there were no significant differences between patients based on age, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, nuclear grade, or progesterone receptor (PR) expression.
Survival probabilities by covariates were assessed using Kaplan-Meier estimator survival analysis and Cox's proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, menopausal status, tumor size, lymph node metastasis and ERα promoter DNA methylation.
The expression of 41 lncRNAs was related to one or more clinicopathological parameters of BC, including tumor size; lymph node metastasis; histological grade; TNM stage; and estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) statuses (p < 0.05).
Chemerin expression was significantly correlated with weight (<i>r</i>=0.256, <i>P</i>=0.04), body mass index (<i>r</i>=0.233, <i>P</i>=0.03), tumor size (<i>r</i>=0.235, <i>P</i>=0.03), lymph node metastasis (<i>r</i>=0.265, <i>P</i>=0.045), distant metastasis (<i>r</i>=0.267, <i>P</i>=0.02), and tumor grading, (<i>r</i>=0.421, <i>P</i>=0.004), while it was inversely significantly correlated with estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor expression in malignant breast tissues (<i>P</i>=0.038, <i>r</i>=-0.437, and <i>P</i>=0.047, <i>r</i>=-0.316), respectively.
We defined as concordant cases in which the primary tumor (PU or PM) and lymph node metastases displayed identical positivity or negativity for ER, PR, HER2, Ki67 and as discordant cases in which there was a mismatch in at least 1 biological parameter among PU and PM tumor and lymph node metastases.
Five tissue cores were punched out from individual primary breast cancer, and one tissue core from each lymph node metastases to assemble tissue microarrays for ER staining.
The meta-analysis indicated that breast cancers with PTEN loss were significantly associated with the tumor size ≥2 cm group (ORFEM = 1.68, 95%CIFEM [1.34, 2.10]), negative expression of estrogen receptor (ORREM = 1.95, 95%CIREM [1.09, 3.49]), negative expression of progesterone receptor (ORFEM = 1.72, 95%CIFEM [1.43, 2.08]), the advanced stage (ORREM = 1.94, 95%CIREM [1.35, 2.80]), positive axillary lymph node metastasis (ORREM = 1.80, 95%CIREM [1.30, 2.50]), and the local recurrence (ORFEM = 1.70, 95%CIFEM [1.26, 2.28]).