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Estrogen Receptor and Endocrine Responsiveness in Japanese versus American Breast Cancer Patients¹

Department of Breast Surgery, National Kyushu Cancer Center Hospital, Fukuoka], Japan [Y. N.]; Department of Surgery, Nagoya City University Medical School, Nagoya, Japan [S. K.]; Department of Medicine, National Cancer Center Hospital [O. T.] and Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research [H. S.], Tokyo, Japan; Institute for Cancer Research, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka, Japan [K. M.]; and University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas [W. L. M.]

We have compared the incidence of estrogen receptor (ER) in breast tumors and its clinical correlation with responses to endocrine therapies in Japanese and American patients. There was no correlation between tumor histopathoogy and the presence of ER, and the ER values in primary and metastatic lesions from the same patients were similar in most Japanese cases. Japanese patients with low and high plasma estradiol levels had identical incidences of ER-positive tumors.

The correlation between tumor ER and response to endocrine therapy is similar between Japanese and American patients. The incidence of ER-positive tumors is higher in postmenopausal American patients in both primary and metastatic lesions. It is possible that the reported increase in tumor lymphocyte infiltration in Japanese patients may explain this difference. The reported 5-year survival advantage of Japanese breast cancer patients cannot be explained by differences between the two populations in the response to endocrine therapy for advanced disease.

¹ This work was partially supported by Grant 001040 from the Ministry of Education and Contract CB23859 from the National Cancer Institute. This report is the result of an Exchange Scientist Visit (W. L. McGuire) under the Breast Cancer Program Area of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Cancer Research Program.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 7/29/76. Accepted 10/ 7/76.

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