Estrogen receptor concentrations in 269 cases of histologically classified human breast cancer

Abstract

This report provides a histological review of 264 female primary breast cancers analyzed for estrogen receptor protein (ER). We also describe 5 cases of male breast cancer all of which bound estradiol specifically. Generally the ER concentrations were lower in the tumors of premenopausal women than in those of postmenopausal women. Three types of cancer with specific morphological features were shown to have ER concentrations that differed significantly from the other types of cancer. Medullary and comedo carcinoma had very low and papillary carcinoma very high levels of ER. No obvious trend in ER concentration was found in unspecified ductal carcinoma, colloid carcinoma, nor in lobular carcinoma. A positive correlation was demonstrated between ER content and degree of differentiation in ductal carcinoma. Cancer with lymphoid infiltration generally showed low ER levels.

Cytophotometrical and biochemical characterization of nonpalpable, mammographically detected mammary adenocarcinomas

“…The malignancy grading of the ductal tumors resulted in five (11%) grade I tumors, 28 (62%) grade I1 tumors, and 12 (27%) grade I11 tumors ( Table 2). The proportion of the morphological subtypes and malignancy of the tumors are similar to those reported for tumors detected by palpation (16,21,22). We thus conclude that the nonpalpable tumors in this series do not represent a homogenous group with respect to morphology and histological malignancy grading.…”

“…The assumption that the nonpalpable mammographically detected carcinomas differ biologically from routinely detected palpable carcinomas is further supported by the high estrogen receptor content found in the tumors. The mean value for all tumors was 1.0 fmole/pg DNA, which clearly differs from the mean value of 0.47 fmole/pg DNA, which has been found in palpable tumors (22). In this context it should also be noted that only four (8%) out of the 50 patients had axillary lymph node metastases, which has to be compared with figures around 39-54% (16,211 for those found in palpable breast carcinomas.…”

“…Tumor samples were collected for ER and PgR analysis as described elsewhere (22). Immediately after surgery a piece of the tumor was excised and placed into iced saline and transported to the receptor laboratory at the Karolinska Hospital.…”

Cyclic AMP binding proteins in human breast cancer

“…At present, it is not known whether these differences within tumours are associated with variations in cellularity, cell type or other factors. Similar intra-tumour variations have been noted with other binding proteins such as the oestrogen receptor (Hawkins et al, 1977;Silversward et al, 1980) and the inter-relationship with these different types of binding protein may help to elucidate the problem.…”

“…It remains to determine which factors influence the levels of cyclic AMP binding proteins in cytosols of individual human breast cancers and, in particular, whether these levels are related to prognosis or endocrine responsiveness, as has been suggested by others (Kvinnsland et al, 1983) and as is the case in rat mammary tumours (Cho-Chung 1978a, b, 1980. Assessments in breast cancers will have to take into account the variation in cyclic AMP binding proteins between different areas of the same tumour.…”