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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Systems Biology of Metabolic Regulation by Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Breast Cancer
Published on: March 17, 2016
Circulating estradiol defines the tumor phenotype in menopausal breast cancer patients
José Schneider1, Silvia Martín-Gutiérrez, Jesús A Tresguerres
1Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Facultad de Ciencias de Salud, Avenida de Atenas, S/N. 28922 Alcorcón (Madrid), Spain. jose.schneider@urjc.es
Objective:
To correlate circulating hormone levels with the clinical and biological features of the tumors in menopausal breast cancer patients.
Design:
Circulating hormone levels were measured in 161 previously untreated menopausal breast cancer patients within 72 h of their planned surgery. The obtained hormone levels were correlated with tumor size, histological and nuclear grade, histological score, axillary nodal status, DNA-ploidy and Ki67-, c-erb-B2-, p53, Bax-, VEGF- and Nup88-expression.
Results:
The only statistically significant correlations found between circulating hormone levels and all tested variables were an inverse one between estradiol and the expression of the apoptosis-associated Bax gene (p=0.009), and again an inverse correlation between estradiol and the expression of c-erb-B2 (p=0.04). When comparing hormone levels with each other, a significant correlation between estradiol and progesterone (p<0.0001), an inverse one between estradiol and FSH (p=0.04) and a direct one between LH and prolactin (p=0.001) were found.
Conclusion:
Higher circulating estradiol levels in postmenopausal breast cancer patients are associated with molecular features usually defining a biologically less aggressive tumor phenotype.
