Estrogen and progesterone receptors in gallbladder cancer.

Cancerous tissues from 21 patients with primary gallbladder cancer were examined immuno-histochemically for the presence of receptors for estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PGR). ER and PGR, localized in the nucleus, were evident in 52.4 per cent and 0 per cent of the patients, respectively. Furthermore, ER and PGR were positive only in the cytoplasm of cancer cells in 28.6 per cent and 66.7 per cent, respectively. There was a higher tendency of moderately- and poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma to have an ER-positive rate than well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. With respect to the relationship between ER and sex, ER-positive nuclei were observed in 8 of 14 women (57.1 per cent) and 3 of 7 men (42.9 per cent), but the difference between the two was not significant due to the small number of subjects. These result suggested that gallbladder cancers with ER in the nuclei may respond to antihormone therapy.