Expression and significance of ER and PR in differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between expressions of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and gender, age, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, capsular invasion and histological type of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Methods: Seventy cases of DTC who received surgery in our hospital (No. 401 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Qingdao, China) between January 2008 and December 2011 were selected. Among them, 61 cases were papillary carcinoma and 9 cases were follicular carcinoma. Twenty cases were normal thyroid tissue adjacent to the tumor which was used as control. Immunohistochemical SP method was employed to detect the expression of ER and PR. Results: The positive rates of ER and PR in tumor tissues of DTC patients were 21.4% (15/70) and 31.4% (22/70), respectively, and no expression of ER or PR were founded in normal thyroid tissue (P 0.05) of DTC patients. Conclusion: The expression levels of ER and PR in the tumor tissue of DTC patients were higher than those in the normal thyroid tissue nearby the tumor. Therefore, ER and PR expression might be clinical markers for DTC and its prognosis.