Sampling and Storage of Breast Cancer Tissue for Steroid Receptor Assays

Abstract

Ablative or pharmacological endocrine treatment is effective in only one-third of all patients with advanced breast cancer [2, 15]. Until comparatively recently, clinical or biochemical data useful in identifying a breast cancer’s hormone dependency were not available. Consequently a large number of patients needlessly underwent surgical procedures and chemotherapy was used indiscriminately, often excluding the possibility of a less damaging treatment for patients with hormone-dependent breast cancer. In the past two decades, however, basic studies on the action of steroid hormones on target tissues such as the uterus have contributed to the development of methods capable of selecting, before the start of therapy, patients who will respond to endocrine treatment.

The authors would like to thank the following colleagues who kindly cooperated in filling out the questionnaire: Dr. H. Braunsberg, Department of Clinical Pathology, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London, England; Dr. G. Contesso, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France; Dr. M. F. Duffy, Nuclear Medicine Laboratory, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; Dr. R. A. Hawkins, Department of Clinical Surgery, University Medical School, Edinburgh, Scotland; Dr. R. Leake, Department of Biochemistry, University of Glasgow, Scotland; Dr. G. Leclercq, Istitut Jules Bordet, Bruxelles, Belgium; Dr. H. Magdalenat, Institut Curie, Paris, France; Dr. A. Piffanelli, Instituto di Radiologia, Università di Ferrara, Italy; Dr. S. Saez, Centre Leon Berard, Lyon, France