Steroid receptors in breast cancer in Indian women.

The distribution of receptors for estradiol (ER), progesterone (PgR) and androgens (DHTR) in 104 primary and 49 metastatic breast tumours from Indian women is herein being reported for the first time. When compared to reports in the literature, a lower percentage (47%) of ER (+) tumours and a higher percentage (49%) of DHTR (+) tumours were observed. There were more ER (-) tumours in premenopausal as compared to postmenopausal women, and more ER (-) tumours had lymph node metastases at the time of surgery. Both these correlations were statistically significant.