The role of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the rotator cuff disease: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Background Rotator cuff (RC) tears represent a common cause of shoulder pain and dysfunction in adults. The disease affects primarily women and occurs mainly in the postmenopausal period. This study aimed to investigate immunohistochemically the presence of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-⍺), estrogen receptor-beta (ER-β) and progesterone receptor (PR) in the supraspinatus tendon of patients with RC tendinopathy, searching for gender differences of expression. A secondary aim was to evaluate potential links between their expression and the typical histopathological findings of the ailment. Methods Biopsies of the supraspinatus tendon were collected intraoperatively from 15 postmenopausal women and 9 men undergoing RC surgery. Specimens were stained with Haematoxylin/Eosin, Masson-Goldner Trichrome, Alcian Blu and immunohistochemical stainings for ER-⍺, ER-β and PR were performed. Tendon alterations were evaluated with the Bonar histopathological scale. Statistical tests used in this study were the Spearman correlation coefficient and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results In the supraspinatus tendon, cells expressed ER-⍺ (p = 0.043), ER-β (p = 0.048) and PR (p = 0.004) with statistically significant differences related to age and sex of patients. Immunoreactivity was seen in the nuclei of tenocytes and vascular cells. Postmenopausal women’s samples showed a markedly higher expression of these receptors compared to their male counterpart. There was a positive correlation between the expression of ER-⍺ and ER-β (r = 0.59; p = 0.02) and between ER-β and PR (r = 0.72; p = 0.002) in women’s samples. Furthermore, in postmenopausal women the PR expression decreased with age (r = − 0.56; p = 0.027). Only in women, the ER-β expression positively correlated with the total Bonar histopathological score (p = 0.019) and the ER-β vascular expression positively correlated with ground substance alterations (p = 0.029). Conclusions These results reveal that ERs and PR are present in the supraspinatus tendon of patients with RC tears, suggesting a role of sex hormones in the pathogenesis of the disease.