674a Prognostic value of steroid receptors after long term follow up of 2257 operable breast cancer patients

The prognostic value ofestradiol receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) was estimated by a multicentric study of 2257 operable breast cancer patients without any adjuvant treatment, followed up for a median of 8.5 years. The series included 33.3% stage I, 57.1% stage II, 5.7% stage IIIa and 2.4% stage IIIb. At the endpoint of the study were observed 589/2257 (26.1%) metastases and 673/2257 (29.8%) deaths. Receptors were measured by radioligand assay. Of the tumours, 68.8%, were ER + and 54.0% PR + (≥ 10 fmol/mg cytosol protein). In univariate analysis, ER and PR status were of prognostic value ( P p In multivariate analysis (Cox's proportional hazard model), only the ER status showed a significant difference ( P Overall, when compared to the TNM and histological grading, ER and PR status have a small prognostic value, their major interest remaining in the domain of therapeutic decisions.