Introduction Cancer is any malignant growth or tumour which is caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell proliferation, which invades and destroys adjacent tissues and may subsequently spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream. Breast cancer (malignant breast neoplasm) is known to originate from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milkductsorthelobulesthatsupplytheductswithmilk. Breast cancer is considered the world's most common cancer and is known to be the second major cause of cancerdeathsamongwomenintheUnitedStates. 1 InUS and Western Europe the average age at diagnosis is 63 years,whileitisaround51yearsinIran. 2 It has been demonstrated that breast cancer in younger age groups tends to be more advanced and more aggressive than in older age groups. Breast neoplasms in youngeragegroupswereofhighergrade,withhormone receptor-negative status, poorly differentiated tumour grade, greater extent of lymphovascular invasion and amplificationofhumanepidermalgrowthfactorreceptor 2(HER2)thanbreastneoplasmsinolderagegroups. 3-6 Forbetterpredictionofapatient'sresponsetoendocrine therapy and their prognosis, biological markers i.e. oestrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status are assessed. An important prognostic factor is metastasis to the lymph nodes which indicates an advanced disease statuswiththeprobabilitythatcancercellshavespreadto distantsites.Atdiagnosis,30%to50%breastcancershave spreadtothesentinellymphnode. 7-9 PatientswithtumoursthatarediagnosedwithpositiveER and/or PR status have lower risks of mortality compared towomenwithnegativeERand/orPRdisease. 10-14 Clinical trialshavealsodemonstratedthatthesurvivaladvantage for women with hormone receptor-positive tumours is increased by treatment with adjuvant hormonal and/or chemotherapeuticregimens. 15 HER2-neu, which encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase, is amplified and over-expressed in 20-25% breast cancers andsuchtumoursareoftenresistanttohormonetherapy. Despite a general inverse relationship between HER- 2/neu over-expression and ER and/or PR expression, a fraction of patients are both HER2-neu- and hormone receptor-positive. 16 Nospecialattentionhasbeengivenonhormonereceptor status in breast cancer in southern Punjab, Pakistan. To develop a better understanding, the current study was planned to evaluate the biological markers that are Vol. 65, No. 7, July 2015 747 ORIGINAL ARTICLE EvaluationofHormoneReceptorStatus(ER/PR/HER2-neu)inBreastCancerin Pakistan FahadPervaiz,SahrishRehmani,SanaMajid,HinaAnwar Abstract Objective: To evaluate the biological markers that are commonly assessed in breast cancer to estimate a patient's responsetoendocrinetherapyandtheirprognosisforbetterclinicaloutcomes. Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at Bahawalpur Institute of Nuclear Oncology and comprised record of early breast cancer patients who gave positive diagnostic tests for hormone receptors status i.e. immunohistochemical test and were treated during 2007-2013. Data of oestrogen, progesterone and human epidermalgrowthfactorreceptor2expressionstatuswasanalysed. SPSS12wasusedforstatisticalanalysis. Results: Overall record of 345 patients was studied of whom 149(43%) were identified to have positive hormone receptor status.. The age of the patients ranged from 24 to 86 years with 97(65%) in 25-50 years, 46(30.8%) 51-75 yearsand6(4.08%)in76-100years.Besides,76(51%)patientshadcarcinomaofrightbreast;86(58%)werediagnosed as Stage III, 55(37%) Stage II and 8(5.3%) Stage IV.Those diagnosed with oestrogen receptor (positive status) were 16(10.7%),humanepidermalgrowthfactorreceptor2over-expression13(8.7%),oestrogen/progesteronehormone receptorpositivity(orluminalA)76(51%)and35(23.4%)patientswerepositiveforallthethreereceptors. Conclusion: Abouthalfofthepatientswerediagnosedwithapositivehormonestatusanditwasobservedthatin mostofthecasesdiseasewasmetastasisedtodistantorgans. Keywords: Oestrogen,HER2-neu,Chemotherapy,Breastcancer.(JPMA65:747;2015) Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicines, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,Bahawalpur,Pakistan. Correspondence: Fahad Pervaiz. Email: fahad_bwp@yahoo.com