Estrogen receptor beta 2 is associated with poor prognosis in estrogen receptor alpha-negative breast carcinoma

Purpose Our aim was to examine the prognostic significance of ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 expression in ERalpha-negative breast carcinomas. Materials and methods We evaluated nuclear and cytoplasmic expression of ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 by immunohistochemistry in a group of 95 patients with long follow-up. ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 status was correlated with clinicopathological parameters and disease outcome. Univariate and multivariate analyses of ERbeta1 and ERbeta2 as independent markers of disease-free survival (DFS) were carried out using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results Nuclear ERbeta1 (nERbeta1) and nERbeta2 status was positively correlated ( p = 0.01). nERbeta1 positivity was associated with low histological grade ( p = 0.01) in all patients and in the nERbeta2-positive subgroup ( p = 0.03) but not in the nERbeta2-negative ( p = 0.27). nERbeta2 positivity was associated with lymph node involvement and tumor relapse in all cases ( p