Estrogen receptor expression profile of disseminated epithelial tumor cells in bone marrow of breast cancer patients.

The estrogen receptor (ER) status in primary breast cancer represents an important prognostic factor and has a profound impact on therapeutic decisions. However, ER expression profile on disseminated breast cancer cells is largely unknown, although these cells are one of the main target structures in adjuvant therapy after local curative resection (R0) achieved in most breast cancer patients. Thus, the present pilot study was designed to evaluate the ER expression profile on disseminated epithelial cells in bone marrow, one of the preferential organs for manifestation of distant metastases in breast cancer. Using the alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase-immunogold double staining procedure, in a panel of 17 breast cancer patients, epithelial cells (mab CK2) detected in bone marrow were analyzed for ER expression (mab 1D5) and compared with ER expression in the corresponding primary tumors. Whereas eleven of the 17 patients (64.7%) were ER-positive in primary carcinomas, only two patients (11.8%) revealed ER-positive epithelial cells in bone marrow. In addition, one of these two patients demonstrated a heterogeneous ER expression pattern, with both ER-positive and ER-negative epithelial cells in bone marrow. Although in both of these cases the ER-positive epithelial cells in bone marrow derived from ER-positive primary tumors, in this small patient cohort none of the prognostic relevant clinical and pathological factors tested, i.e., TNM-classification, grading, and ER status in primary breast cancer, correlated with the ER status in bone marrow. The striking discrepancy between ER expression in primary breast cancers and the corresponding disseminated epithelial cells in bone marrow suggests either the selective dissemination of ER-negative tumor cells into the bone marrow or a negative impact of the bone marrow microenvironment on epithelial ER expression. This phenomenon might influence therapeutic effects of antihormonal treatment.