Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Dec 10, 2015; 6(6): 220-224
Published online Dec 10, 2015. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v6.i6.220
Tumor biology in estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2-negative breast cancer: Mind the menopausal status
Hiroko Yamashita
Hiroko Yamashita, Breast Surgery, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo 060-8648, Japan
Author contributions: Yamashita H conceived the issues which formed the content of the manuscript and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hiroko Yamashita, MD, PhD, Breast Surgery, Hokkaido University Hospital, Kita 14, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8648, Japan. hirokoy@huhp.hokudai.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-11-7067381 Fax: +81-11-7067384
Received: May 20, 2015
Peer-review started: May 20, 2015
First decision: August 19, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: October 23, 2015
Article in press: October 27, 2015
Published online: December 10, 2015
Processing time: 203 Days and 23.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Progesterone receptor (PgR) is one of the estrogen-responsive genes, and it has been reported that plasma estradiol levels are related to expression levels of estrogen-responsive genes including PGR in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. In this article, biological differences, especially differences in expression of PgR and Ki67 in ER-positive breast cancer between pre- and postmenopausal women are discussed. Clinical roles of PgR and Ki67 in ER-positive breast cancer differ between pre- and postmenopausal women. We suggest that the mechanisms of development and estrogen-dependent growth of ER-positive breast cancer might differ according to menopausal status.