Steroid hormone receptor and COX-2 expression in chordoma.

Abstract

Reports of sex steroid receptor expression in chordoma suggest that these tumors may be responsive to hormone manipulation therapy. Immunohistochemical stains for estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha, ER-beta, progesterone receptor (PR), androgen receptor (AR), and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), were performed on a tissue microarray containing 21 samples of chordoma. Most chordomas expressed COX-2, ER-beta, and AR, whereas ER-alpha and PR stains were negative in all cases. ER-beta expression did not correlate with AR expression (P = .4142; McNemar test). There were no statistically significant correlations between the expression of any of these markers and anatomic location of tumor, patient sex, patient age, or disease-free survival. Chordomas commonly express COX-2, AR, and ER-beta. These findings may have therapeutic implications concerning the use of agents that inhibit or modulate these signaling molecules.