Prognostic Significances of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in Primary Operable Breast Cancer

Both estrogen and progesterone receptors have been determinedin 613 primary breast cancer patients treated by radical mastectomy.At the cut-off value of 5 fentomoles (fmol) cytosol pro-tein/mgfor both receptors, patients with estrogen or progesterone receptor-positivebreast cancer showed significantly favorable disease-free, overalland post-recurrence survival curves to those of receptor-negativebreast cancer patients. In the patient subgroups: premenopausal,stage III, more than four positive lymph node metastases, postoperativeadjuvant tamoxifen therapy, a significantly favorable prognosiswas recognized in either estrogen or progesterone receptor-positivepatients. Both receptors are thought to be useful prognosticindicators for patients with advanced tumors or for those receivingpostoperative adjuvant tamoxifen therapy. When the cut-off valuewas changed, the maximum significant difference in prognosisbetween receptor-positive and receptor-negative patients wasobserved at 5 fmol cytosol protein/mg for the estrogen receptoror 10 fmol/mg cytosol protein for the progesterone receptor.A more detailed examination should be made on the cut-off valuesof both receptors.