The occurrence of multiple steroid hormone receptors in disease-free and neoplastic human ovary

Abstract

The cytoplasmic receptors for 17β‐estradiol (ER), 5α‐dihydrotestosterone (AR), progesterone (PR), and cortisol (GR) have been quantified in 36 specimens from the human ovary (13 disease‐free, 5 benign, and 18 malignant) by a dextran‐coated charcoal (DCC) technique. The occurrence of receptor‐positive biopsies were: ER 46%, AR 85%, PR 54%, GR 92%, in normal tissue; ER 40%, AR 100%, PR 20%, GR 50%, in benign tumors; and ER 67%, AR 72%, PR 50%, GR 88%, in malignant lesions. Furthermore, the simultaneous occurrence of ER and PR in malignant tumors was 50% yet all four receptors were found to be present only in 44% of the cases. The findings reported here on the strong correlation existing between ER and PR presence or amount agree with previous observations on normal and neoplastic specimens from human breast and endometrial tissues.