Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor and p53 Gene Expression in Adenoid Cystic Cancer

Abstract

Objectives The current study examined the role of estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR) and p53 expression in adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) to determine if simple expression or possible overexpression of these products might influence the development and natural course of this cancer. Study Design ER and PR status and p53 overexpression were retrospectively evaluated utilizing immunohistochemical evaluation of 47 ACC specimens. Methods Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from 47 ACC specimens and 47 samples of normal salivary gland tissue were evaluated histochemically for the presence of ER, PR and p53. Immunoreactivity was scored using a 0 to +3 scale in which staining was either (0) negative, (+1) spotty, (+2) weakly positive, or (+3) strongly positive. Results ER was expressed in 8 of 47 tumors while PR was expressed in 4 of 47 tumors. p53 aberrations were demonstrated in 26 of 47 tumors. Tumors showed varying degrees of immunopositivity ranging from 0 to +3. Conclusions These studies suggest that p53 aberrations may be involved in ACC tumor progression and that ER and PR may play a role in ACC development.

Clinicopathologic predictors of recurrence and overall survival in adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck: A single institutional experience at a tertiary care center

“…Its expression in salivary gland ACC has been reported in 17% to 55% of cases. 12,26 In our study, positive p53 expression was noted in 2 cases (2%). The low levels of p53 expression may be related to sample size and the use of stricter grading criteria that were set forth by Luo et al 13 and Motta Rda et al 14 in which positive expression was defined as staining ≥10% of the tumor nuclei.…”

“…Tumors were subcategorized into 1 of 4 subtypes (cribriform, tubular, trabecular, or solid) when the predominant architectural subtype represented at least 70% of the specimen. 12 …”

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck – An update

“…Estrogen receptors have been described in 17-92% of studied AdCC, suggesting a role for anti-estrogen therapy with tamoxifen [73] and supporting the plausibility of an earlier observed partial remission in a patient treated in this way [74].…”

Expression of Hormone Receptors and HER-2 in Benign and Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors

“…Still, approximately 60% of patients die within 3 years of diagnosis, typically of distant widespread metastases. Reports of estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptor expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) have varied greatly in SGTs, likely due to variability in antibody clones, fixation processes, scoring systems, and observers [9][10][11][12][13]. Androgen receptor (AR) and HER-2 overexpression is frequently reported in SDC, but has not been well-studied in other SGTs [3,4,6,7,11,12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”