Estrogen and progesterone receptors in epithelial ovarian tumours.

A study of the estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status and content in 43 patients with histologically proven primary epithelial ovarian tumours was undertaken. The results of ER and PR status in 604 primary epithelial ovarian carcinomas of different histological types were analyzed in a combined material collected from the literature (576 cases) and 28 cases from our own study. Statistical analysis showed significant difference in ER status, but not in PR status, between the different histological types. The highest proportion of ER positive tumours was found among the serous and endometrioid types. Thus when analysing the correlation of ER status with other parameters in ovarian cancer, histological type should be taken into account. In 3 benign, 4 borderline and 14 malignant serous ovarian tumours no statistically significant difference was found in steroid receptor content and status. In 11 patients with multiple tumour locations, only two patients with mixed serous/endometrioid malignant tumours had different receptor status in different tumour locations.