[Glucocorticoid receptors and the histological structure of breast cancer]

Glucocorticoid receptors (GR) were studied in tumor cytosols from 140 breast cancer patients. The level of GR depended upon tumor histology. The highest GR level was found in medullary cancer, while the lowest--in a mucinous one. The GR level in ductal-invasive cancer was significantly higher than in the lobular infiltrative type. The frequency of GR in tumors of the 1st grade of malignancy was significantly lower than in those of the 2nd and 3rd grade of malignancy. The 1st grade of malignancy tumors which contained GR had estrogen and progesterone receptors, too. The increasing malignancy was matched by the rising percentage of such tumors which was as high as 47% among 3rd grade of malignancy tumors.