O. Diezgibert et al., IMMUNOLOGICAL QUANTITATION OF NUCLEAR STEROID-RECEPTORS TO OPTIMIZE THE BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF BREAST-TUMORS, Tumor biology, 19(4), 1998, pp. 222-228
We used immunological methods to determine cytosolic and nuclear stero
id receptors to evaluate the advantages of nuclear receptor measuremen
t in the selection of breast cancer patients for treatment. Around 75%
of tumors showed coincidence between nuclear and cytosolic receptors
(+/+ or -/-) for estrogen receptor (ER) and for progesterone receptor
(PgR). Only cytosolic receptors were detected in around 20% of tumors.
Distributed in the ER/PgR phenotypes according to the nuclear or cyto
solic receptors, 64% of tumors remained in the same subgroup, whereas
16% of tumors were classified as hormone dependent according to cytoso
lic and independent according to nuclear receptors, which could be con
sidered as 'false-positive' results. 6% of tumors would be classified
as negative according to cytosolic receptors but positive according to
nuclear receptors and would correspond to 'false-negative' results by
conventional methods. Cytosolic receptor results may overrate the hor
mone dependence and cause some 'misclassifications' of patients. This
could partially explain the lack of response to therapy in some cases.