Glucocorticoid receptors and steroid sensitivity in normal and neoplastic human lymphoid tissues: a review

The determination of estrogen and progesterone receptors in breast cancer has been shown to be useful in predicting the response to endocrine therapy. Given their well-known inhibitory effects on lymphoid tissue, glucocorticoids have been used widely in the treatment of leukemia. Given these facts, over the last 10 years, several investigators have measured the number of glucocorticoid receptors in normal and neoplastic lymphoid tissue to see whether their number correlated with glucocorticoid responsiveness in vitro or in vivo. No clear correlation could be established between the level of glucocorticoid receptor and the in vitro action of steroids in normal and neoplastic lymphoid tissue. In contrast, attempts to correlate glucocorticoid receptor levels in acute lymphocytic leukemia to in vivo steroid responsiveness and immunological type using the whole-cell-binding assay for receptor determination and selecting the patients according to age and immunological criteria have been more successful.