Relationship between folate receptor alpha (FRα) with estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER-2 neu expression in breast carcinoma

Folate alpha receptor (FRα) was a membrane receptor protein of glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol, which used as an antigen marker and also as a new molecular subtype in breast carcinoma with complex and heterogeneous genetic disorders. This study aimed to determine a relationship among FR alpha expression with Estrogen receptor (ER), Progesteron Receptor (PR), and HER-2 expression in breast carcinoma. This was observational study with a cross-sectional design, FR alpha expression was confirmed by immunohistochemistry methods, ER/PR alpha expression using Allred Score (1998), Human Epidermal Growth Factor Reseptor-2 (HER-2) expression according to ASCO and Cap (2013), histopathological grading based on Nottingham Modification of The Bloom Richardson System. The total sample for this study was 75 samples of breast carcinoma patients. This study showed FR alpha expression was not significantly associated with alpha ER/PR expression (p = 0.887) and histopathological degree (p = 0.190), but FR alpha expression was significantly associated with HER-2 overexpression (p = 0.037) in breast carcinoma. Overexpression FR alpha was more dominant in breast carcinoma with a poor and aggressive prognosis.