About 70% to 80% of breast cancers express
estrogen receptor-α (ERα), and estrogens play important roles in the development and growth of
hormone-dependent tumors. Together with
lymph node metastasis,
tumor size and histological grade, ER status is considered one of the prognostic factors in
breast cancer, and an indicator for hormonal treatment. 147 genes and 112 genes with significant P-value and having significant
differential expression between ER+ and ER− tumors were identified from the LCM
data set and bulk tissue
data set, respectively. 61 genes were found to be common in both data sets, while 85 genes were unique to the LCM
data set and 51 genes were present only in the bulk tumor data set.
Pathway analysis with the 85 genes using
Gene Ontology suggested that genes involved in
endocytosis,
ceramide generation, Ras / ERK / Ark
cascade, and JAT-STAT pathway may play roles related to ER. The
gene profiling with LCM-captured
tumor cells provides a unique approach to characterize and study epithelial
tumor cells and to
gain an insight into signaling pathways associated with ER.