Prognostic significance of beta-adrenergic receptor expression in oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Sep 29, 2026

Expression of the β-adrenergic receptor family has been linked to survival outcomes across several cancer types, yet no prior study assessed these receptors in oesophageal adenocarcinoma. This work evaluates β1 and β2 adrenergic receptor expression in patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgical resection (2004–2012). Using immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray and Cox proportional hazards models with clinical adjustments, high β2 expression associates with improved recurrence-free and overall survival, with a stronger effect in gastro-oesophageal junction tumours; β1 shows no significant survival association.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Materials and methods

Study design and cohort

The Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research J Pathol Clin Res January 2026; 12: e70070 Published online in Wiley Online Library (wi[leyonlinelibrary.com](leyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/2056-4538.70070)[).](leyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/2056-4538.70070)[ DOI: 10.1002/2056-4538.70070](leyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/2056-4538.70070) ORIGINAL ARTICLE Prognostic signiﬁcance of beta-adrenergic receptor expression in oesophageal adenocarcinoma Talita Oliveira 1 , Swathi Sasi 1 , James Trainor2, Damian T McManus2, Stephen McQuaid3, Claire Lewis3, Jacqueline A James3, Helen G Coleman4, Úna C McMenamin4 and Richard C Turkington4* 1 Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, Queen ’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK 2Department of Pathology, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast, UK 3Northern Ireland Biobank, The Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research, Queen ’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK 4Centre for Public Health, Queen ’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK *Correspondence to: Richard C Turkington, Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences. Royal Victoria Hospital, Queen ’s University Belfast, BT12 6BA, UK. E-mail: [r.turkington@qub.ac.uk](r.turkington@qub.ac.uk) Abstract Expression of the β-adrenergic receptors’ family has been associated with survival outcomes in multiple different cancer types, showing their potential to act as prognostic factors. No previous work has evaluated these receptors in relation to survival in oesophageal adenocarcinoma. We sought to analyse the expression of β 1 and β2 adrenergic receptors in oesophageal adenocarcinoma and their association with survival outcomes. The expression of β 1 and β2 adrenergic receptors was evaluated in a cohort of oesophageal adenocarcinoma patients treated with neo-adjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgical resection at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre between 2004 and 2012. Immunohistochemical staining for was assessed using a Tissue Microarray with triplicate tumour cores. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to investigate the association of β 1 and β2 adrenergic receptor expression with survival outcomes, including adjustment for clinical factors. In total, 115 and 122 patients were assessed for β 1 and β2 adrenergic receptor expression, respectively. In adjusted analysis, high β2 adrenergic receptor expression was associated with improved recurrence-free [hazard ratio [HR] 0.57, 95% CI 0.33–0.97] and overall survival (HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30–0.94) with restriction to gastro-oesophageal junction tumours showing a stronger association with improved overall survival (HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.13–0.59). No signiﬁcant association was observed for β 1 adrenergic receptor expression and any survival outcome. In summary, we found that higher expression of the β2 adrenergic receptor was associated with a signiﬁcant improvement in survival inoesophageal adenocarcinoma patients, and gastro-oesophageal junction tumours in particular, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgical resection. Keywords: oesophageal cancer; adenocarcinoma; beta adrenergic receptors; tumour biomarker; immunohistochemistry Received 17 July 2025; Revised 24 November 2025; Accepted 9 December 2025 No conﬂicts of interest were declared. Introduction The incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) has risen rapidly in the past four decades in western countries but 5-year survival rates remain low at less than 21%[1,2]. For earlier stage, resectable tumours, even with improvements in neoadjuvant therapeutic strategies and surgical resection techniques, survival remains poor at 35–45% with a lack of molecular tools for patient stratiﬁcation and estimation of OAC patient prognosis [3,4]. The beta-adrenergic receptors (βARs) are a family of G protein-coupled receptors ubiquitously expressed in mammalian cells and play an important role in several physiological processes, including smooth muscle contraction [5] . Both β 1 an

FAQs

What question does the study address about β-adrenergic receptors in oesophageal adenocarcinoma?

It tests whether β1 and β2 adrenergic receptor expression relates to survival outcomes in oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a link not previously evaluated in this cancer type.

How were β1 and β2 receptor expression levels measured?

Expression was assessed by immunohistochemical staining on a tissue microarray using triplicate tumour cores.

What survival associations were found for β2 and β1 expression?

After adjustment, higher β2 expression was associated with improved recurrence-free and overall survival, with an even stronger association in gastro-oesophageal junction tumours. No significant association was observed for β1 expression with survival outcomes.

Sep 29, 2026

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