[Determination of steroid receptors in prostate cancer: possibilities and limits]

In most cases, the prostatic carcinoma (PCA) is a hormone-dependent malignant tumor. Since sexual steroids seem to act upon their target organs by means of specific steroid receptors the determination of receptor concentration in PCA is of great theoretical and practical interest. The state of art of receptor research in PCA can be summarized as follows: 1. The prognostic relevance of receptor determinations in PCA is controversial. The contradictory assessments of the value of receptor measurements may be mainly caused by methodical problems. 2. A possible heterogeneity of the receptor distribution in PCA tissue can not be detected by biochemical receptor determinations. 3. This heterogeneity could be one reason for a lack of response to endocrine therapy in cases which are biochemically receptor-rich (selection of receptor-poor cell clones). 4. The available (immuno)histochemical fluorescence techniques, which have been developed for direct detection of heterogeneous receptor distribution in the tissue, are neither sufficiently sensitive nor specific. 5. It is an open question whether the development of an appropriate (immuno)histochemical method will succeed.