ENDOCRINE BACKGROUND OF HUMAN RENAL-CELL CARCINOMA .2. ATTEMPT TO INDUCE THE R-5020-BINDING COMPONENTS BY ESTROGENS

In an attempt to elevate the concentration of progestin-binding components in human renal cell carcinoma, 24 patients were treated prior to tumour nephrectomy with various doses of oestrogens, potent inducers of progestin receptor synthesis. Low-dose oestrogen treatment was found to be insufficient to significantly induce progestin-binder synthesis in the tumour tissue. In the carcinoma of patients receiving high-dose oestrogen treatment, the average concentration of R-5020-binding sites did not differ from that of the low-dose group. However, 2 out of these patients (12.5%) exhibited R-5020-binder concentrations in the tumour tissue which exceeded the highest quantities of progestin-binding components found in 88 untreated controls previously analysed in our laboratory.