Expressions of estrogen occupied receptor(EoR) and progesterone occupied receptor(PoR) and C -erbB - 2 oncoprotein in human nasopharyngeal carcinomas

Abstract

It is first reported here that estrogen occupied receptor (EoR) and progesterone occupied receptor (PoR) expressed in cancerous tissues (59. 57% and 82. 98% respectively) and morphologically normal epithelium (50–77.78% and 70–88.89% respectively) in nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) with insignificant difference (P>0.05). Positive rates of EoR and PoR increased greatly in clinical stage I and IV, compared with in I (P<0.05), and exhibited insignificant difference between female cases and male ones (P>0.05). Positive rate of C-erbB-2 was 19.15% in cancerous cells, and 9.68% in stage I and 66.67% in IV in NPCs(P<0.05). Significant difference of C-erbB-2 expression was observed between bilateral cervical lymph node metastasis(BCLM) and unilateral ones (P<0.005) but not for EoR or PoR (P>0.05). These findings suggest that EoR or PoR may be correlated with aggravation but not genesis and node metastasis in NPCs and that C -erbB - 2 may be correlated with aggravation and promotion of formation of node metastasis in NPCs.