Immunoexpression of estrogen receptor-β and progesterone receptor in prostate adenocarcinoma, does it inhibit neoplastic proliferation and invasion?

Context: The roles of estrogen and progesterone in human prostate carcinogenesis have been only recently recognized. Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the expressions of esterone receptor-beta (ER-β), progesterone receptor (PR), and Ki-67 in benign and malignant lesions of the prostate. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital. It was an analytical cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: We selected a total of 39 cases including 26 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia and 13 cases of adenocarcinoma prostate. The proportion of cases showing expression for ER-β, PR, and Ki-67 was noted for both groups. A difference in immunoexpression between benign and malignant cases was evaluated. Association between receptor expression and Gleason grade was evaluated for malignant cases. Statistical Analysis Used: To compare the difference in expressions of ER-β, PR, and Ki-67 Mann-Whitney U test was used. Association between ER-β, PR, and Ki-67 expression and Gleason grade was analyzed using the Chi-square test. Results: ER-β expression was seen in all benign and malignant cases, whereas the majority of the malignant cases (61.54%) were negative for progesterone expression. Epithelial expressions of ER-β and PR were significantly higher in benign as compared with malignant lesions. Malignant cases showed a significantly higher expression of Ki-67. However, we did not find any association between the expressions of these markers with Gleason grade. Conclusions: The expressions of ER-β and PR were significantly higher in the epithelium in benign cases as compared with malignant cases. Ki-67 expression was significantly higher in the malignant group as compared with the benign group.