The Expression of ESR1 Gene in Paraffin Tissue Blocks of Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor and cause of cancer death in women. Some biomarkers are used to estimate the response to therapy. One of the most common indicators is estrogen receptors (ER). It seems that there is a significant correlation between receptor existence (ER +) and risk of breast cancer. This study aimed to measurement the estrogen receptor alpha expression in women with breast cancer. In this study, 20 cancerous paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from patients with breast cancer and 10 non-cancerous were collected. After deparaffinization, RNA was extracted with RNX Plus solution. Complementary DNA (cDNA) was synthesized via reverse transcription reaction using Moloney murine leukemia virus (MMULV) enzyme. Estrogen receptors gene expression was measured using relative real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) reaction. In this study, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was used as internal control gene. Estrogen receptor alpha expression in cancerous tissues had significant over expression compared to normal tissues. Also, increasing the stage of disease, expression of estrogen receptor alpha was increased (P < 0.0001). According to the results, it can be concluded that the estrogen receptor alpha gene expression strongly increases in tumor samples. So, determination of estrogen receptor alpha expression can be used as indicator agent for response to treatment and follow-up.