Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Español
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

ER negative

(... NEH-guh-tiv)
Describes cells that do not have a protein that binds to the hormone estrogen. Cancer cells that are ER negative do not need estrogen to grow. This means that they will keep growing when estrogen is not present and do not stop growing when treated with substances that block estrogen from binding. Also called estrogen receptor negative.
Search NCI's Dictionary of Cancer Terms