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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Profiling of Estrogen-regulated MicroRNAs in Breast Cancer Cells
Published on: February 21, 2014
Altered estrogen receptor alpha and beta messenger RNA expression during human breast tumorigenesis
E Leygue1, H Dotzlaw, P H Watson
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Manitoba, Faculty of Medicine, Winnipeg, Canada. eleygue@cc.umanitoba.ca
Abstract:
Using a multiplex reverse transcription-PCR assay, we compared the relative expression of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and ER-beta mRNA between adjacent samples of normal breast tissue and matched primary breast tumors obtained from 18 different patients. Within this cohort, 7 tumors were ER negative, and 11 tumors were ER positive, as determined by the ligand binding assay. No differences in the ratio of ER-alpha:ER-beta expression were observed in the ER-negative cohort. However, in the ER-positive cohort, a significantly (P < 0.02) higher ER-alpha:ER-beta ratio was observed in the tumor compared with that of the normal tissue component. Our data revealed that the increase in the ER-alpha:ER-beta ratio was due primarily to a significant (P < 0.05) increase in ER-alpha mRNA expression in conjunction with a lower ER-beta mRNA expression in the tumor compared with that of the normal compartment in some, but not all, ER-positive cases. These results suggest that the role of ER-alpha- and ER-beta-driven pathways and/or their interaction change during breast tumorigenesis.
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