Expression of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor in endometrial cancer and their correlations with...

To investigate the expression levels of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) in endometrial carcinoma (EC) and their correlations with standardized clinicopathological parameters in a single-center surgical cohort.

Retrospective clinical and pathological data of 78 EC patients receiving primary surgery at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Kiang Wu Hospital between Jan 2016 and Aug 2022 were collected. ER/PR expression was quantified via immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the Allred scoring system. Dichotomous receptor positivity (Allred 0-2 negative/3-8 positive) and continuous total Allred scores were analyzed separately. Fisher's exact test or χ² test was used for categorical comparison; Kruskal-Wallis H test with adjusted post-hoc pairwise tests and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were applied for ordinal Allred score data. Exact P values, test statistics and degrees of freedom were reported for all analyses.

The overall cohort included 71 endometrioid carcinoma (EC) and 7 non-endometrioid carcinoma (NEC) cases. ER and PR positive rates were significantly higher in endometrioid lesions (97.2% and 94.4%) than non-endometrioid subtypes (57.1% for both, P = 0.018/P = 0.018). Continuous Allred scores of ER and PR declined significantly with worsening tumor differentiation (all adjusted P<0.05). For FIGO staging, significantly reduced ER and PR Allred scores were observed in Stage II compared with Stage I. The single Stage-III case was reported descriptively and was not included in formal statistical testing. Patients with lymph node metastasis exhibited lower PR Allred scores (P = 0.021), while ER expression showed no statistically significant difference (P = 0.076). No significant associations were found between ER/PR scores and depth of myometrial invasion or lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) (all P>0.05).

Reduced ER and PR expression correlates with poorer tumor differentiation and advanced FIGO stage in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma; PR loss is independently associated with lymph node metastasis. This study only identifies crude cross-sectional correlations without survival or multivariable adjustment data, so ER/PR may merely serve as auxiliary morphological markers reflecting tumor aggressive potential, rather than standalone indicators for prognosis or individualized hormone therapy guidance.