ER/PR +
My ER/PR was very high 93 and 98. Does having a high ER/PR have anything to do with female hormones? Trying to understand the difference. Thanks
Comments
-
Yes. This means estrogen and progestin cause your tumor to grow. There is nothing lucky about breast cancer but my breast cancer surgeon was very happy to see I was highly estrogen and progestin positive because there are therapies targeted to that -- i.e. they reduce the effect of these hormones in your body and usually for that reason your prognosis is better when your BC is both ER/PR positive. In my case because I am 73 I was very surprised to have this type of BC because I already had all the evidence of low estrogen most older women have such as dry skin and thinning hair,etc prior to breast cancer and it hardly seems fair! Polly
-
Thank you! Wonder why my Oncologist didn't want to check my hormones also. I'm going to have my gyno do it for sure.
-
The percentages given do not reflect circulating estrogen, rather they are a measure of the number of receptors on the breast cells. The lab has a slide with 100 breast cells and then counts the number that have receptors - this is what makes up the percentage - an example would be the OP’s 93 - this means that 93 out of the 100 has an estrogen receptor. The importance of this is that a high number of receptors are ready to receive any circulating estrogen that is available. The only reason for an oncologist to check hormone levels wouldn’t be to determine whether a patient is pre or post menopausal, if there is any uncertainty, to determine which type of anti-hormonal is appropriate to prescribe
-
ER+ means there are estrogen receptors on your tumor cells and the estrogen feeds/fuels the cell growth and division. This is considered a good thing because there are hormone blockers and inhibitors that can work to help reduce recurrence risk by starving the cells of its fuel. The higher the percentage given, the more dependent on the estrogen the cells are. PR+ Means there are progesterone receptors on the cancer cells. It's often assumed that this has the same meaning as estrogen+ but just a different hormone fueling the tumor. However, Its just the opposite. When the PR your body makes interacts with the receptors it actually interrupts the DNA signaling in the cancer cells and slows its growth. Bio-identical PR seems to have the same effect and is often used as treatment for stage IV ER/PR+ BC. Synthetic PR often found in prescription/nonprescription pills (like birth control pills) and creams is different than the PR our body makes and can increase risk of recurrence and is not recommended. Here’s a good visual on how all this works:
When you're PR+ anti-hormonal therapy will be recommended. They will only test your hormones to see if you're pre or post menopausal as those results dictate which anti-hormonals you can take. Unless you're post menopausal, routine hormone testing is useless as estrogen will still be present at significant levels in the blood stream-it just won't be able to interact properly with the receptors on the cells. The receptors being +/- have nothing to do with how much hormone you have circulating in your body.
Hope this helps!
-
Best explanation ever! Thank you!
Now another question. I took the Mammaprint test and it showed (less than) 10% reoccurrence without any hormonal or chemo therapy. What if I don't take hormonal therapy? Knowing my ER/PR was 98. I'm deciding if I need it. I'm leaning towards not taking hormonal right now. Thoughts?
Categories
- All Categories
- 679 Advocacy and Fund-Raising
- 289 Advocacy
- 68 I've Donated to Breastcancer.org in honor of....
- Test
- 322 Walks, Runs and Fundraising Events for Breastcancer.org
- 5.6K Community Connections
- 282 Middle Age 40-60(ish) Years Old With Breast Cancer
- 53 Australians and New Zealanders Affected by Breast Cancer
- 208 Black Women or Men With Breast Cancer
- 684 Canadians Affected by Breast Cancer
- 1.5K Caring for Someone with Breast cancer
- 455 Caring for Someone with Stage IV or Mets
- 260 High Risk of Recurrence or Second Breast Cancer
- 22 International, Non-English Speakers With Breast Cancer
- 16 Latinas/Hispanics With Breast Cancer
- 189 LGBTQA+ With Breast Cancer
- 152 May Their Memory Live On
- 85 Member Matchup & Virtual Support Meetups
- 375 Members by Location
- 291 Older Than 60 Years Old With Breast Cancer
- 177 Singles With Breast Cancer
- 869 Young With Breast Cancer
- 50.4K Connecting With Others Who Have a Similar Diagnosis
- 204 Breast Cancer with Another Diagnosis or Comorbidity
- 4K DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)
- 79 DCIS plus HER2-positive Microinvasion
- 529 Genetic Testing
- 2.2K HER2+ (Positive) Breast Cancer
- 1.5K IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer)
- 3.4K IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)
- 1.5K ILC (Invasive Lobular Carcinoma)
- 999 Just Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastasis
- 652 LCIS (Lobular Carcinoma In Situ)
- 193 Less Common Types of Breast Cancer
- 252 Male Breast Cancer
- 86 Mixed Type Breast Cancer
- 3.1K Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned
- 189 Palliative Therapy/Hospice Care
- 488 Second or Third Breast Cancer
- 1.2K Stage I Breast Cancer
- 313 Stage II Breast Cancer
- 3.8K Stage III Breast Cancer
- 2.5K Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
- 13.1K Day-to-Day Matters
- 132 All things COVID-19 or coronavirus
- 87 BCO Free-Cycle: Give or Trade Items Related to Breast Cancer
- 5.9K Clinical Trials, Research News, Podcasts, and Study Results
- 86 Coping with Holidays, Special Days and Anniversaries
- 828 Employment, Insurance, and Other Financial Issues
- 101 Family and Family Planning Matters
- Family Issues for Those Who Have Breast Cancer
- 26 Furry friends
- 1.8K Humor and Games
- 1.6K Mental Health: Because Cancer Doesn't Just Affect Your Breasts
- 706 Recipe Swap for Healthy Living
- 704 Recommend Your Resources
- 171 Sex & Relationship Matters
- 9 The Political Corner
- 874 Working on Your Fitness
- 4.5K Moving On & Finding Inspiration After Breast Cancer
- 394 Bonded by Breast Cancer
- 3.1K Life After Breast Cancer
- 806 Prayers and Spiritual Support
- 285 Who or What Inspires You?
- 28.7K Not Diagnosed But Concerned
- 1K Benign Breast Conditions
- 2.3K High Risk for Breast Cancer
- 18K Not Diagnosed But Worried
- 7.4K Waiting for Test Results
- 603 Site News and Announcements
- 560 Comments, Suggestions, Feature Requests
- 39 Mod Announcements, Breastcancer.org News, Blog Entries, Podcasts
- 4 Survey, Interview and Participant Requests: Need your Help!
- 61.9K Tests, Treatments & Side Effects
- 586 Alternative Medicine
- 255 Bone Health and Bone Loss
- 11.4K Breast Reconstruction
- 7.9K Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After
- 2.7K Complementary and Holistic Medicine and Treatment
- 775 Diagnosed and Waiting for Test Results
- 7.8K Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After
- 50 Immunotherapy - Before, During, and After
- 7.4K Just Diagnosed
- 1.4K Living Without Reconstruction After a Mastectomy
- 5.2K Lymphedema
- 3.6K Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment
- 591 Pain
- 3.9K Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After
- 8.4K Surgery - Before, During, and After
- 109 Welcome to Breastcancer.org
- 98 Acknowledging and honoring our Community
- 11 Info & Resources for New Patients & Members From the Team