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Hormone replacement therapy use dramatically increases breast oestrogen receptor expression in obese postmenopausal
J S Lawson1, A S Field, D D Tran
1School of Health Services Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. james.lawson@unsw.edu.au
Background:
It is known that use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by postmenopausal women increases the risk of breast cancer.
Method:
In this study, oestrogen receptor (ER)-alpha expression is examined using standard immunoperoxidase technique.
Results:
Normal breast samples of 11 Australian postmenopausal women have been included in the ER-alpha study; the result showed a strong correlation (r(2) = 0.80) between ER-alpha expression in normal breast epithelial cells and body mass index (BMI) in normal women who currently use HRT.
Conclusion:
This finding confirms that the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer associated with increased ER-alpha expression in normal breast epithelial cells, in turn associated with high BMI and the use of HRT.