Cytoplasmic expression of oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ) as a prognostic factor in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma in elderly women.

Zannoni G F, Prisco M G, Vellone V G, De Stefano I, Vizzielli G, Tortorella L, Fagotti A, Scambia G & Gallo D (2011) Histopathology 59, 909-917 Cytoplasmic expression of oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ) as a prognostic factor in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma in elderly women Aims: To investigate the prognostic value of cytoplasmic oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ) expression in a series of untreated patients with non-human papillomavirus (HPV)-related vulvar cancer. Methods and results: Immunohistochemistry was carried out using a polyclonal rabbit anti-human ERβ antibody. The nuclear and cytoplasmic expression of ERβ was evaluated in 33 patients. Cytoplasmic immunoreactivity was correlated with histopathological and molecular parameters (Ki67, p21), disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The expression of cytoplasmic ERβ was found to be associated with grade ( P = 0.006), while no association was found with any of the remaining variables examined. Cases with high cytoplasmic ERβ expression showed lower DFS and OS compared to cases with low cytoplasmic ERβ ( P = 0.007, P = 0.01, respectively). There was also a progressive decline in both the DFS and OS with increasing tumour size ( P = 0.05, P = 0.07, respectively) and with increasing depth of infiltration ( P = 0.14, P = 0.07, respectively). On multivariate analysis, only tumour size and cytoplasmic ERβ staining retained an independent negative prognostic role for DFS and OS. Conclusions: The assessment of cytoplasmic ERβ expression could be helpful to identify poor prognosis in elderly patients with non-HPV-related vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]