Skip to main content
Annals of Surgery logoLink to Annals of Surgery
. 1983 Feb;197(2):123–127. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198302000-00001

Relationship of age and menopausal status to estrogen receptor content in primary carcinoma of the breast.

K S McCarty Jr, J S Silva, E B Cox, G S Leight Jr, S A Wells Jr, K S McCarty Sr
PMCID: PMC1353098  PMID: 6824366

Abstract

The cytosolic estrogen receptor (CER) content of 1037 primary breast carcinomas was evaluated by sucrose density gradient analysis. Tumor specimens from premenopausal patients had significantly lower levels of CER (14.6 +/- 1.5 (mean +/- SEM) 8S binding fmole/mg protein) compared with carcinomas from postmenopausal patients (57.5 +/- 3.9 fmole/mg protein; p less than 0.001). The proportion of specimens with CER levels above threshold values of 3, 7, or 10 fmoles/mg protein were significantly higher for postmenopausal patients (72%, 63%, 59%, respectively) than for premenopausal patients (56%, 42%, 36%, p less than 0.001). When compared within half-decades, no statistically significant differences between premenopausal and postmenopausal patients were observed for mean, median, or rank sums of CER levels (p greater than 0.3). When patients were compared by half-decades, both mean and ranked sums of CER levels were significantly different (p less than 0.001). The proportion of specimens that demonstrated CER levels above a threshold value of 10 fmole/mg protein increased sequentially from a low of 13/51 (26%) for patients less than 35 years to a high of 60/81 (74%) for patients greater than 75 years.

Full text

PDF
123

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allegra J. C., Lippman M. E., Thompson E. B., Simon R., Barlock A., Green L., Huff K. K., Do H. M., Aitken S. C. Distribution, frequency, and quantitative analysis of estrogen, progesterone, androgen, and glucocorticoid receptors in human breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1979 May;39(5):1447–1454. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baird D. T., Guevara A. Concentration of unconjugated estrone and estradiol in peripheral plasma in nonpregnant women throughout the menstrual cycle, castrate and postmenopausal women and in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1969 Feb;29(2):149–156. doi: 10.1210/jcem-29-2-149. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Block G. E., Jensen E. V., Polley T. Z. The prediction of hormonal dependency of mammary cancer. Ann Surg. 1975 Sep;182(3):342–352. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197509000-00017. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Elwood J. M., Godolphin W. Oestrogen receptors in breast tumours: associations with age, menopausal status and epidemiological and clinical features in 735 patients. Br J Cancer. 1980 Nov;42(5):635–644. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1980.296. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hawkins R. A., Roberts M. M., Forrest A. P. Oestrogen receptors and breast cancer: current status. Br J Surg. 1980 Mar;67(3):153–169. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800670302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jensen E. V., Block G. E., Smith S., Kyser K., DeSombre E. R. Estrogen receptors and breast cancer response to adrenalectomy. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1971 Dec;34:55–70. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. KLEINFELD G., HAAGENSEN C. D., COOLEY E. Age and menstrual status as prognostic factors in carcinoma of the breast. Ann Surg. 1963 Apr;157:600–605. doi: 10.1097/00000658-196304000-00016. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Knight W. A., Livingston R. B., Gregory E. J., McGuire W. L. Estrogen receptor as an independent prognostic factor for early recurrence in breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1977 Dec;37(12):4669–4671. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kute T. E., Heidemann P., Wittliff J. L. Molecular heterogeneity of cytosolic forms of estrogen receptors from human breast tumors. Cancer Res. 1978 Nov;38(11 Pt 2):4307–4313. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Levy C., Robel P., Gautray J. P., De Brux J., Verma U., Descomps B., Baulieu E. E. Estradiol and progesterone receptors in human endometrium: normal and abnormal menstrual cycles and early pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1980 Mar 1;136(5):646–651. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(80)91018-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Martin P. M., Rolland P. H., Jacquemier J., Rolland A. M., Toga M. Multiple steroid receptors in human breast cancer. II. Estrogen and progestin receptors in 672 primary tumors. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 1979;2(2):107–113. doi: 10.1007/BF00254082. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McCarty K. S., Jr, Barton T. K., Fetter B. F., Creasman W. T., McCarty K. S., Sr Correlation of estrogen and progesterone receptors with histologic differentiation in endometrial adenocarcinoma. Am J Pathol. 1979 Jul;96(1):171–183. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. McCarty K. S., Jr, Cox C., Silva J. S., Woodard B. H., Mossler J. A., Haagensen D. E., Jr, Barton T. K., McCarty K. S., Sr, Wells S. A., Jr Comparison of sex steroid receptor analyses and carcinoembryonic antigen with clinical response to hormone therapy. Cancer. 1980 Dec 15;46(12 Suppl):2846–2850. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19801215)46:12+<2846::aid-cncr2820461423>3.0.co;2-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. McCarty K. S., Jr, McCarty K. S., Sr Steroid hormone receptors in the regulation of differentiation. A review. Am J Pathol. 1977 Mar;86(3):705–744. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Nagai R., Kataoka M., Kobayashi S., Ishihara K., Tobioka N., Nakashima K., Naruse M., Saito K., Sakuma S. Estrogen and progesterone receptors in human breast cancer with concomitant assay of plasma 17beta-estradiol, progesterone, and prolactin levels. Cancer Res. 1979 May;39(5):1834–1840. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Saez S., Martin P. M., Chouvet C. D. Estradiol and progesterone receptor levels in human breast adenocarcinoma in relation to plasma estrogen and progesterone levels. Cancer Res. 1978 Oct;38(10):3468–3473. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Theve N. O., Carlström K., Gustafsson J. A., Gustafsson S., Nordenskjöld B., Sköldefors H., Wrange O. Oestrogen receptors and peripheral serum levels of oestradiol-17beta in patients with mammary carcinoma. Eur J Cancer. 1978 Dec;14(12):1337–1340. doi: 10.1016/0014-2964(78)90115-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Vermeulen A., Verdonck L. Factors affecting sex hormone levels in postmenopausal women. J Steroid Biochem. 1979 Jul;11(1C):899–904. doi: 10.1016/0022-4731(79)90027-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of Surgery are provided here courtesy of Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins

RESOURCES