Steroid hormone receptors in human breast cancer and the clinical significance.

Estrogen- and androgen-receptors were determined in human breast cancer tissue by several techniques, mainly by agar gel electrophoresis.In primary breast cancers estrogen receptors were detected in 50–60% of the cases, in metastatic tissue in 35–40%. The number of binding sites are 90 femtomol/mg tissue protein in average. DHT-receptors were found in 20% of the primaries and 10% of metastases.There is no correlation to the menopausal status, the histological type of the tumor, or the free interval. The content of spare estrogen receptors decreases with increasing serum estradiol levels.Regarding clinical results in patients with advanced disease it can be stated that cases lacking steroid hormone receptors in their tumor tissue have a minimal chance to respond to any kind of endocrine treatment.