Correlation of androgen receptors with histological differentiation in human endometrial carcinomas

Primary endometrial carcinomas from 35 non-treated patients were investigated by measurement of androgen receptors in the tumor cytosols. Receptor analysis was done with a labelled synthetic androgen, methyltrienolone 3H-R1881 and triamcinolone acetonide, and dextran-coated charcoal absorption. The concentrations of androgen receptors in the endometrial carcinomas were, in decreasing order: highly-differentiated tumors, 15.7 +/- 1.8 (fmol/mg protein, mean +/- SE) (number of cases, 21); moderately differentiated tumors, 4.6 +/- 1.6 (n = 7); poorly differentiated tumors, undetectable in 7 out of 8 cases. Highly-differentiated tumors contained a much greater concentration of receptors than the two less differentiated ones. One highly-differentiated endometrial carcinoma with pyometra virtually lacked the receptor. The moderately differentiated endometrial carcinomas contained very low levels of the receptors. The poorly differentiated tumors virtually lacked the receptors. Metastatic lymph nodes from primary endometrial carcinomas with moderate differentiation had a very low receptor level. From these results, it is concluded that human endometrial carcinomas, particularly with histologically high differentiation, contain a considerable amount of androgen receptor and that the receptor concentrations appear to correlate with the histologic grade of tumor differentiation.