Estradiol receptors are regarded to predict a likely success of hormonal therapeutic efforts and the prognosis of
breast cancer patients. But today its prognostic importance is controversial, discussed as either reflecting intrinsic property of the
tumor tissue or better therapeutic accessibility of receptor positive
tumors. Moreover, the most important clinical prognosticators--
tumor size and axillary lymph node involvement do not seem to be related to the
estradiol receptor status. In our investigation, the length of disease free interval is similar in
estradiol receptor positive and negative patients and in all sites of distant
metastases, but it is significantly reduced if more than 4 axillary lymph nodes are involved. Post recurrence survival is significantly longer in
estradiol receptor positive than negative patients and also in patients treated by
tamoxifen containing
therapies. Its length is independent of the number of axillary
lymph node metastases and the type of distant
metastases, with a tendency to be longer in
estradiol receptor positive than negative patients. In addition, the overall survival is longer for
estradiol receptor positive than negative patients and becomes reduced with more than 4 axillary
lymph node metastases. Frequency of deaths in
estradiol receptor positive patients is half that of negative subjects. Furthermore, the length of overall survival is independent on the type of distant
metastases, with tendency to be longer in
estradiol receptor positive than negative patients. Longest overall survival could be observed for
estradiol receptor positive patients who got
therapy regimens containing
tamoxifen. The weak prognostic advantages of
estradiol receptor positive patients are interpreted by
estradiol receptors as intrinsic parameters of
breast cancer tissue characterizing more its
biological behavior than therapeutic accessibility.