[Estrogen and progesterone receptors in endometrial carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE

To study the relationship between estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) and the clinico-pathologic features in endometrial carcinoma.

METHODS

ER and PR contents of fresh tumor tissues taken from 70 cases of primary endometrial carcinoma were measured by biochemical (DCC) method and 30 paraffin-embedded archival specimens of the 70 cases also by immunohistochemical (IHC) method.

RESULTS

Both ER and PR positive rates were 77.1% by DCC assay and 83.3% by IHC method. Excellent correspondency of one method to the other was observed (ER 83.3%, PR 86.7%). And the IHC method displayed further the origin of the tissue examined. The ER and PR levels correlated negatively with the grades of tumor (P < 0.01). ER and PR positive rates in adenocarcinoma (including papillary adenocarcinoma) and adenoacanthoma were higher than those in the other histological types (ER, P < 0.01; PR, P < 0.005). There was a positive correlation between the ER levels and obesity.

CONCLUSIONS

The levels of ER and PR and the histopathological classification and grading of the tumor tissue reflect biologic behaviors of endometrial carcinoma. ER and PR assays are important for endocrinotherapy and in predicting prognosis.