An immunohistochemical study of progesterone receptor in thyroidal Hürthle cells tumors

Estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR) receptors are commonly represented on normal and neoplastic thyroid tissues, while a few data are available about their expression in Hürthle cells tumors. Seventeen patients who underwent thyroidectomy for a neoplasia that showed oxyphilic elements were studied by an immunohistochemical method and the presence of PgR in the 30% of them, was demonstrated, while no ER expression could be found. We tried, therefore, to establish a correlation between these proteins and age, sex or indexes of the supposed estro-progestinic concentration of our patients. None of these factors resulted significantly related to the receptors expression. Since PgR are expressed in the oxyphilic cells neoplasms, further studies on both ER, and PgR are needed in order to point out their possible biological importance.