What is hormone receptor status?
Sometimes breast cancer cells have receptors for hormones and sometimes they do not. Receptors are the parts of a cancer cell that allow a hormone to attach and activate the cell. Breast cancer cells can have receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone together, or for either hormone alone. When this is the case, the cancer is called estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positive. Women with a receptor positive cancer have a somewhat better prognosis than those without. A doctor can treat ER positive cancers with antiestrogen drugs.
