Premium
Oestrogen receptor β in breast cancer: good, bad or still too early to tell?
Author(s) -
Speirs Valerie
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/path.1072
Subject(s) - breast cancer , tamoxifen , oestrogen receptor , estrogen receptor , human breast , medicine , oncology , adjuvant , receptor , cancer , gynecology , clinical significance , cancer research
Two oestrogen receptors (ERs), ERα and ERβ, have been identified. ERα is by far the better characterized and is an established predictive marker in breast cancer which influences decisions on whether or not to give adjuvant anti‐oestrogens, such as tamoxifen. In contrast, the function of ERβ in breast pathobiology is unclear, partly because most studies have focused on its mRNA rather than the protein. In this review, the significance of ERβ in the human breast is reviewed with respect to recent literature and its possible implications are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.