Receptor measurements

Estrogen and progesterone receptor assays supply information that aids the physician in making informed judgments as to which patients are likely to respond to endocrine therapy. From the clinical laboratory viewpoint, the current receptor assays have been a success, but much remains to be done. Sensitivity, turnaround time, and cost will be greatly improved by new developments in the area of steroid receptor analysis, especially with the use of HPLC, IRA, and of monoclonal antibodies. The use of nuclear thyroid receptors has yet to be fully exploited, but this undoubtedly will happen. Although a wide variety of both bioassays and binding assays have been used to confirm Graves' disease, it appears that the use of radioreceptor and ELISA assays for thyrotropin receptor antibody will become more popular.