Editorial

Estrogen receptor-β: why may it influence clinical outcome in estrogen receptor-α positive breast cancer?

Margaret A Shupnik

Department of Medicine, University of Virginia Medical School, Jefferson Park Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA

author email corresponding author email

Breast Cancer Research 2007, 9:107doi:10.1186/bcr1735

Published:	29 June 2007

See related research article by Lin et al., http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/9/2/R25

Abstract

In the previous issue of the journal, Lin and coworkers present data demonstrate that increased expression of estrogen receptor (ER)-β in ER-α-positive breast cancer cells antagonizes a defined group of ER-α/estrogen stimulated genes that are involved in cell cycle regulation and DNA replication. Similar expression patterns for these genes were found human ER-α positive breast tumors expressing higher levels or ER-β, and this correlated with better clinical outcome. The implications for these data, which suggest that ER-β is a positive actor and diagnostic marker for therapeutic outcome, are discussed.