Hormone receptor assays: Clinical usefulness in the management of carcinoma of the breast

In 1896, Sir George Beatson¹ provided the first evidence that removal of the ovaries from premenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer could cause an improvement in their condition and control of their disease. The case reports presented by Beatson were supported by the paper published in 1900 by Stanley Boyd, a surgeon from Charing Cross Hospital in London. He reported the results of perhaps the first clinical trial of endocrine therapy for breast cancer.² Boyd posed the question " How often does the improvement occur?" and found in the 46 cases of which he had personal knowledge and could accurately describe a response that 17 (37% benefited from oophorectomy. Additional studies by Thompson³ and Lett⁴ demonstrated similar results, but it was impossible to predict which patients would benefit. Unfortunately, the beneficial effect of oophorectomy was transient (6 to 12 months), although a few patients had extended responses (3 to 5 years).