Comparative histological, histochemical, immunohistochemical and biochemical studies on oestrogen receptors, lectin receptors, and Barr bodies in human breast cancer.

The present study performed on a total of 567 cases of human female breast cancer compares the results of the biochemical assay (dextran-coated charcoal assay = DCC) for oestrogen receptor (ER) with those of several morphological methods developed for the detection of the ER or for the prediction of prognosis by use of other systems (FSA = fluorescent ligand binding assay, ER-ICA = monoclonal antibody assay for ER, LRA = lectin receptor assay using peanut agglutinin, and Barr body estimation). Whereas no correlation at all was observed among the results of the DCC and those of the FSA and Barr body estimation, the ER-ICA and the LRA showed an unanimous tendency towards higher values of ER w…