Hormone receptors in dystrophic and neoplastic vulvar disease. Preliminary considerations

Hormone receptor assays for testosterone, estrogens and androgens were performed on 53 biopsy specimens of vulva from 40 patients, consisting of 6 with normal tissue, 14 with atrophic type dystrophy, 13 with hypertrophic type dystrophy, and 20 with malignancy. Atrophic and hypertrophic forms showed a different receptor pattern; hypertrophic forms were characterized by consistently higher levels of progesterone receptors not correlated with estrogen receptors. Neoplastic tissue showed no significant changes in values compared to normal or dystrophic forms, but range of variability was high. The bond between neoplastic forms and hormone activity seems without doubt less important than in the corresponding endometrial and mammary forms. The study of dystrophic forms, instead, should be further explored with a larger number of cases.