An immunohistochemical study of the incidence and significance of sex steroid hormone binding sites in normal and neoplastic human ovarian tissue.

An immunocytochemical double horseradish peroxidase-anti-horseradish peroxidase (PAP) technique has been developed for localising estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone binding sites in normal ovaries and in epithelial ovarian neoplasms. Estrogen binding sites were present in 45% of normal ovaries, in 45% of benign epithelial neoplasms, and in 58.5% of ovarian adenocarcinomas. The equivalent figures for progesterone binding sites were 49%, 65%, and 45.2%, whilst those for testosterone binding sites were 43%, 40%, and 60.5%. Steroid binding was related neither to the grade of malignancy in epithelial neoplasms nor to the presence of metastases in cases of ovarian adenocarcinomas. The simultaneous presence of both estrogen and progesterone binding sites or of both estrogen and testosterone binding sites in ovarian adenocarcinomas was, however, associated with good differentiation. Evidence is presented to suggest that the binding sites demonstrated were specific, and it is suggested that the immunohistochemical demonstration of sex steroid hormone binding capacities in ovarian adenocarcinomas may be of value as a predictive marker for response to hormonal therapy.