Influence of cytoplasmic steroid receptor content on prognosis of early stage endometrial carcinoma.

The clinicopathologic associations and effect on prognosis of cytoplasmic steroid receptor content were studied in 168 patients with clinical Stage I and II endometrial carcinoma. Cytoplasmic estrogen receptor status was associated (p less than 0.01) with histologic differentiation, nuclear differentiation, and histologic documentation of extrauterine metastases. Progesterone receptor status was related (p less than 0.05) to histologic differentiation and histologic cell type, and combined estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor status was associated (p less than 0.05) with histologic differentiation, peritoneal cytology, extrauterine metastases, and histologic cell type among the 105 patients who had determination of both estrogen and progesterone receptors. Single-factor analysis revealed significant (p less than 0.05) effects of estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, and estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor status on disease-free survival. All other clinicopathologic features significantly (p less than 0.05) affected prognosis, except for peritoneal cytology. With use of stepwise regression analysis of proportional hazards, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and combined estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor status were significant independent prognostic factors, replacing histologic assessment of glandular or nuclear differentiation in the models. These data suggest that receptor status of primary endometrial carcinomas provides important information relevant to tumor behavior which complements the information provided by conventional clinicopathologic analysis.