Purpose: Estrogen-receptor (ER) and progesterone-receptor (PR) expression levels in breast cancer, which have been principally compared via binomial descriptors, can vary widely across tumors. We sought to characterize ER and PR expression levels using semi-quantitative analyses of receptor staining in germline pathogenic variant (PV) carriers of cancer predisposition genes.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients who underwent germline genetic testing for cancer predisposition genes at a tertiary cancer center genetics clinic. We performed comparisons of semi-quantitative ER and PR percentage staining levels across carriers and non-carriers of cancer predisposition genes.
Results: Breast cancers from BRCA1 PV carriers expressed significantly lower ER (15.2% vs 78.2%, p < 0.001) and lower PR (6.8% vs 41.1%, p < 0.001) staining compared to non-PV carriers. Similarly, breast cancers of BRCA2 (66.7% vs 78.2%, p = 0.005) and TP53 (50.6% vs 78.2%, p = 0.015) PV tumors also displayed moderate decreases in ER staining. Conversely, CHEK2 tumors displayed higher ER (93.1% vs 78.2%, p = 0.005) and PR (72% vs 48.8%, p = 0.001) staining when compared to non-PV carriers. We observed a wide range of dispersion across the ER and PR staining levels of the carriers and noncarriers. ER and PR ranges of dispersion of CHEK2 tumors were uniquely narrower than all other groups.
Conclusion: The findings of our study suggest that precise expression levels of ER and PR in breast cancers can vary widely. These differences are further augmented when comparing expression staining across PV and non-PV carriers, suggesting potentially unique tumorigenesis and progression pathways influenced by germline cancer predisposition genes.
Keywords: Breast cancer; ER; Germline cancer predisposition gene; HER2; Hormone receptor expression; PR; Tumorigenesis.
© 2022. The Author(s).