Explanation of ER/PR

Mckaylaleigh

Hi again all.  Just doing the waiting game right now. Have my 2nd opinion appoint Wednesday and waiting on the results for the BRAC genes which should be in any time now. I just got my ER/PR results and I was wondering if someone could explain this to me. I searched Beesie's post but didn't see much on it and reading online is overwhelming and confusing.  I was ER positive, 97%, and PR positive, 60%. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Kelly

LisaAlissa

Hi Mckaylaleigh!

If you haven't taken a look at the section on "Hormonal Therapy" on the main site (the underlined words are a link that will get you there..., you'll want to. If you follow the links through that section, you'll have a reasonable understanding of hormonal therapies and how they relate to the characteristics of your cancer.

HTH,

LisaAlissa

BarredOwl

Hi:

This is an explanation of what they are:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/hor...

This is an explanation of test results (different methods are explained):

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/hor...

Your results mean you would qualify for endocrine therapy. See LisaAlissa's link above for an introduction.

BarredOwl

Mckaylaleigh

Thanks ladies! Do people typically wish for these to be positive over negative or vice versa or does it really not matter? I guess that is what I was mostly confused about.

Also, this may seem like a silly question, but I know over the years there was some talk about soy and estrogen and whatnot...I never really read into it but I am a BIG fan of IPA's (very hoppy beer) and I have read a few things online about IPA's being high in estrogen...being ER+, should I cut out the IPA's and other high estrogen foods or do they work in totally different ways?

SpecialK

Being ER+ means that you can take anti-hormonal medication (usually Tamoxifen if you are premenopausal, but recent study data indicates that suppressing the ovaries with meds and taking aromatase inhibitors offers particular benefit to young patients, or, if you are post-menopausal, there are several aromatase inhibiting anti-hormonal drugs).  Being ER- means that there are no drugs that can be taken adjuvently to help prevent recurrence - so, most hope for ER+ and it is also the most common, with about 80% of patients testing positive.

Soy intake, and your comfort level with it, seems to be an individual thing.  There is no consensus on whether phytoestrogens in food are dangerous for ER+ patients - you will find confusion amongst researchers, oncologists, nutritionists, etc.  Most will agree that soy protein isolates in protein bars and some protein powders is the type of soy that should be avoided, but that whole food soy is ok in moderation.