Progesterone receptor

Specific staining occurs in the nucleus. Cytoplasmic staining should be ignored.

Immunohistochemical expression

• normal vulval skin¹

• vulval fibroepithelial polyps¹

• vulval smooth muscle tumours¹

• vulval nerve sheath tumours¹

• vulval and vaginal angiomyofibroblastoma¹

• aggressive angiomyxoma of pelvic parts¹

• endometrial stromal sarcoma

• thymomas

• some lung carcinomas: the published literature is contradictory. Some early studies were biochemical examination of cytosol: 3/21⁵, 2/15⁶, 6/19⁷.

		PR	ER and PR
	Breast	15/292, 27/68 (using 1A6, 23/68 using hPRa3, 24/68 using polyclonal PR)10	13/292
	Invasive ductal	44/1193
	Invasive lobular	5/103
	Ovary	11/222, 6/293, 10/24 (using 1A6, 9/24 using hPRa3 or polyclonal PR)10	10/222
	Endometrium	2/22	1/22
	Lung	0/22, 0/353, 0/248 (non small cell carcinomas)4, 17/498, 14/64 (details of pretreatment, antibody and dilution not given)9, 3/41 (using 1A6, 0/41 using hPRa3 or polyclonal PR)10	0/22, 0/248 (non small cell carcinomas)4, 1/498
	Oesophagus	2/22	0/22
	Gallbladder	0/22	0/22
	Stomach	0/22, 0/393, 0/35 (using 1A6, hPRa3 or polyclonal PR)10	0/22
	Colon	0/253
	Pancreas	0/22, 0/263, 1/22 (using 1A6, 0/22 using hPRa3 or polyclonal PR)10	0/22
	Kidney	0/453, 2/27 (using 1A6, 0/27 using hPRa3 or polyclonal PR)10
	Prostate	0/22	0/22

• Apocrine carcinomas of the breast are commonly positive for androgen receptors but negative for oestrogen receptors and progesterone receptors.

Diagnostic utility

• Identification of adenocarcinoma as arising from breast or female genital tract, in combination with PR and various other markers.

• Identification of those breast carcinomas which are likely to respond to hormone therapy.

• Differentiation of endocervical from endometrial adenocarcinoma.

References

¹McCluggage WG, Patterson A, Axwell P. Aggressive angiomyxoma of pelvic parts exhibits oestrogen and progesterone receptor positivity. J Clin Pathol 2000;53:603-605.

²Lee, B. H., J. L. Hecht, et al. (2002). "WT1, estrogen receptor, and progesterone receptor as markers for breast or ovarian primary sites in metastatic adenocarcinoma to body fluids." Am J Clin Pathol 117(5): 745-50.

³Kaufmann, O., T. Deidesheimer, et al. (1996). "Immunohistochemical differentiation of metastatic breast carcinomas from metastatic adenocarcinomas of other common primary sites." Histopathology 29(3): 233-40.

⁴Di Nunno, L., L. G. Larsson, et al. (2000). "Estrogen and progesterone receptors in non-small cell lung cancer in 248 consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection." Arch Pathol Lab Med 124(10): 1467-70.

⁵Chaudhuri PK, Thomas PA, Walker MJ, Briele HA, Das Gupta TK, Beattie CW. Steroid receptors in human lung cancer cytosols. Cancer Lett 1982;16:327–332.

⁶Beattie, C. W., N. W. Hansen, et al. (1985). "Steroid receptors in human lung cancer." Cancer Res 45(9): 4206-14.

⁷Cagle, P. T., D. R. Mody, et al. (1990). "Estrogen and progesterone receptors in bronchogenic carcinoma." Cancer Res 50(20): 6632-5.

⁸Su JM. Hsu HK. Chang H. Lin SL. Chang HC. Huang MS. Tseng HH. Expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in non-small-cell lung cancer: immunohistochemical study. Anticancer Research 1996;16:3803-6.

⁹Canver, C. C., V. A. Memoli, et al. (1994). "Sex hormone receptors in non-small-cell lung cancer in human beings." J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 108(1): 153-7.

¹⁰Kaufmann, O., S. Kother, et al. (1998). "Use of antibodies against estrogen and progesterone receptors to identify metastatic breast and ovarian carcinomas by conventional immunohistochemical and tyramide signal amplification methods." Mod Pathol 11(4): 357-63.

©SMUHT/PW Bishop