[The clinical significance of hormone receptors in the treatment of breast cancer].

The assay of steroid receptors in tumor tissue has been shown to be a useful tool to evaluate the response of disseminated breast cancer to endocrine therapy. Principle and problems of this assay are outlined. An objective response of estrogen-receptor positive tumors to endocrine treatment can be achieved in about 60%. The rate of remissions in the receptor-negative group is below 10%. Possible explanations for false-positive or false-negative receptor assays are discussed. Additionally some possibilities for increasing the accuracy of the method are detailed.