Affiliations: [a] Department of Gynaecology, The First People’s Hospital of Jining City, Jining, Shandong, China | [b] Department of Oncology, The First People’s Hospital of Jining City, Jining, Shandong, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Liang Tang, The First People’s Hospital of Jining City, No. 6 of Jiankang Road, Jining, Shandong 272000, China. Tel.: +86 0537 2253372; Fax: +86 0537 2253372; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is a common malignant tumor in gynecology. Its incidence and development are closely associated with the levels of estrogenic and progesterone hormone. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway abnormity is associated with a variety of tumors. This study detected estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), ERK1, and ERK2 expression in EC and analyzed their correlations. A total of 40 EC patients in our hospital were selected as test group, while another 40 healthy volunteers were enrolled as control group. ER, PR, ERK1, and ERK2 expression in EC tissue, para-carcinoma tissue, and normal endometrial tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The positive rate of ER, PR, ERK1, and ERK2 in the test group was 50%, 40%, 60%, and 65%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control (P< 0.05). ER, PR, ERK1, and ERK2 protein expressions in EC cell were significantly higher than those in the control (P< 0.05). ERK1 and ERK2 presented positive correlation with ER and PR (P< 0.05). In conclusion, EC patients presented higher expressions of ER, PR, which were correlated with higher levels of ERK1 and ERK2, suggesting they might be involved in the pathogenesis of EC.
Keywords: Endometrial carcinoma, ER, PR, ERK1, ERK2
