Steroid receptors in benign breast disease, gross cystic disease and fibroadenoma.

The benign breast pathology embraces a wide variety of anatomo-clinical-pathological conditions producing confusion in nomenclature. The Authors collected three different types of BBP and investigated the hormonal receptor status for each. The following concentrations of ERc were found: 1-6 fmol/mg in BBD; less than 2 fmol/mg in GCD; 12-18 fmol/mg in the cytoplasm and 29-37.5 fmol/mg in the nucleus in FA. In FA, PgR was found in concentrations of 43.5-50 fmol/mg in the cytoplasm and 0.2-10 fmol/mg in the nucleus. Even if we consider these three histo-pathological entities (BBD, GCD, FA) separately, no correlation can be seen between the presence of receptors and benign breast disease. The only observation we can make is that the fibroadenomas contain more easily identifiable receptor concentrations than BBD and GCD.