Estrogen, male dominance and esophageal adenocarcinoma: Is there a link?

Table 1 Estrogen receptor expression in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma

	No. of patients with EAC	ERα	ERβ	Conclusion
Akgun et al[84]	31	Not expressed	Increased expression as esophageal lesions progressed	ERβ is suggested as a EAC therapy target
Tiffin et al[85]	20 (8)	Type of ER was not specified; ER were detected in EAC patients		ER may be important for further investigation
Liu et al[39]	33	Not expressed	Expressed in EAC, but not in Barrett’s esophagus	Anti-estrogen treatment could be a promising therapeutic target for EAC
Kalayaransan et al[86]	45 (15)	Not expressed	Detected in all 45 patients; Expressed higher in EAC, compared to normal esophageal mucosa	ERβ suggested as marker and/or prognostic factor

EAC: Esophageal adenocarcinoma; ER: Estrogen receptor.