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. 2004 Jul;130(7):405-10.
doi: 10.1007/s00432-004-0548-9.

Estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) is expressed in brain astrocytic tumors and declines with dedifferentiation of the neoplasm

Anna Batistatou  1 , Dimitrios Stefanou, Anna Goussia, Evdokia Arkoumani, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Niki J Agnantis
Affiliations

Estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) is expressed in brain astrocytic tumors and declines with dedifferentiation of the neoplasm

Anna Batistatou et al. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2004 Jul.

Abstract

Purpose: Estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) is the second identified receptor mediating the effects of estrogen on target tissues. The role of ERbeta in cancer pathobiology is largely unknown, because specific antibodies have not been available until recently. Initial studies have shown that ERbeta expression declines in breast, ovarian, prostatic, and colon carcinomas. Tamoxifen, a synthetic anti-estrogen compound that is a mixed agonist/antagonist of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and a pure antagonist of ERbeta, has moderate beneficial effects in human astrocytic neoplasms. However, most published studies agree that glial tumors do not express ERalpha. The purpose of this study was to explore the expression of ERbeta in astrocytic neoplasms.

Methods: ERbeta expression was monitored immunohistochemically in 56 cases of astrocytomas of all grades (grade I-IV) and in adjacent non-neoplastic brain tissue.

Results: Moderate or strong nuclear immunopositivity was obtained in non-neoplastic astrocytes and in low-grade astrocytomas, whereas the majority of high-grade tumors were immunonegative or displayed weak immunoreactivity. The progressive decline in ERbeta expression paralleled the increase in tumor grade.

Conclusions: In as much as ERbeta is possibly the only ER expressed in astrocytes, its decreased expression may play an important role in astrocytic tumor initiation and in the potential response of glial neoplasms to tamoxifen.

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Figures

Fig. 1a–f.
Fig. 1a–f.
Evaluation of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) expression in astrocytic neoplasms and non-neoplastic brain (immunostaining with DAB, original magnification ×40). a Strong nuclear immunoreactivity (+++) in grade I tumor (pilocytic astrocytoma); b Strong nuclear immunoreactivity (+++) in grade II tumor (diffuse or low-grade astrocytoma); c Moderate nuclear immunoreactivity (++) in grade III tumor (anaplastic astrocytoma); d Grade IV tumor (pleiomorphic glioblastoma) exhibiting no immunostaining (−). Note the immunopositive mitosis of a tumor cell; e Hyperplastic endothelial cells in a pleiomorphic glioblastoma displaying weak staining (+). Note the immunopositive mitosis of a tumor cell; f Non-neoplastic brain tissue exhibiting strong nuclear staining of glial cells (+++) and weak immunostaining of occasional neurons
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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