Shatnawi A, Ayoub NM, Alkhalifa AE, Ibrahim DR. Estrogen-Related Receptors Gene Expression and Copy Number Alteration Association With the Clinicopathologic Characteristics of Breast Cancer.
Breast Cancer (Auckl) 2022;
16:11782234221086713. [PMID:
35359609 PMCID:
PMC8961373 DOI:
10.1177/11782234221086713]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose:
It has been suggested that dysregulation of transcription factors expression
or activity plays significant roles in breast cancer (BC) severity and poor
prognosis. Therefore, our study aims to thoroughly evaluate the
estrogen-related receptor isoforms (ESRRs) expression and copy number
alteration (CNA) status and their association with clinicopathologic
characteristics in BC.
Methods:
A METABRIC dataset consist of 2509 BC patients’ samples was obtained from the
cBioPortal public domain. The gene expression, putative CNA, and relevant
tumor information of ESRRs were retrieved. ESRRs messenger RNA (mRNA)
expression in BC cell lines was obtained from the Cancer Cell Line
Encyclopedia (CCLE). Association and correlation analysis of ESRRs
expression with BC clinicopathologic characteristics and molecular subtype
were performed. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was conducted to evaluate the
prognostic value of ESRRs expression on patient survival.
Results:
ESRRα expression correlated negatively with patients’ age and overall
survival, whereas positively correlated with tumor size, the number of
positive lymph nodes, and Nottingham prognostic index (NPI). Conversely,
ESRRγ expression was positively correlated with patients’ age and negatively
correlated with NPI. ESRRα and ESRRγ expression were significantly
associated with tumor grade, expression of hormone receptors, human
epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and molecular subtype, whereas
ESRRβ was only associated with tumor stage. A significant and distinct
association of each of ESRRs CNA with various clinicopathologic and
prognostic factors was also observed. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis
demonstrated no significant difference for survival curves among BC patients
with high or low expression of ESRRα, β, or γ. On stratification, high ESRRα
expression significantly reduced survival among premenopausal patients,
patients with grade I/II, and early-stage disease. In BC cell lines, only
ESRRα expression was significantly higher in HER2-positive cells. No
significant association was observed between ESRRβ expression and any of the
clinicopathologic characteristics examined.
Conclusions:
In this clinical dataset, ESRRα and ESRRγ mRNA expression and CNA show a
significant correlation and association with distinct clinicopathologic and
prognostic parameters known to influence treatment outcomes; however, ESRRβ
failed to show a robust role in BC pathogenesis. ESRRα and ESRRγ can be
employed as therapeutic targets in BC-targeted therapy. However, the role of
ESRRβ in BC pathogenesis remains unclear.
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