Hormonal
therapy is the dominating form of treatment for prostatic
carcinoma. The majority of cases (80%) are well controlled for varying times with this regimen. However, thus far there have been no adequate methods to predict in which cases hormonal
therapy is of less benefit. Measurement of
cancer tissue content of intracellular
hormone receptors constitutes progress toward a more individualized
therapy in prostatic
carcinoma. In this study biopsies from 16
cancer patients were taken before
therapy was given, and the specimens were analyzed with regard to content of specific
methyltrienolone-binding sites. A correlation has been made between receptor content and clinical response to hormonal
therapy in each case. Twelve specimens contained measurable amounts of
steroid receptors. Of these, one patient died during irradiation
therapy before onset of hormonal treatment. However, of the remaining 11 patients, 9 responded well to
hormones (9/11 approximately 82%). The two receptor-positive nonresponders had the lowest measurable receptor levels in the series. Four specimens contained no detectable amounts of receptors. Three of these patients showed no response to
therapy (3/4 = 75%) but one was "false negative." Our data indicate that
steroid receptor analysis may become a valuable diagnostic tool in individualizing the
therapy for
prostatic cancer.