[Human mammary carcinoma: relationship between steroid hormone receptors and histopathology. An hypothesis, the prognostic value of hormone receptors (author's transl)].

In 318 cases of human primary breast carcinoma, the presence and content of estrogen receptor (ER) have been correlated to histopathological features of these carcinomas. We have evidenced that: a) there is a relationship between the ER presence, the histoprognostic grade and the histological type; b) there is no correlation between the frequency of ER presence, the neoplasic cellularity and the stromal reaction. The presence of ER appears to be related to a differentiated state of the carcinoma and to a moderate neoplasic activity. These data show that ER, correlated with histopathological features, could be used as an estimation's factor of the cellular activity of a human mammary carcinoma, thus as a factor of better prognostic value for the evolution of this tumor.