{"entity":{"id":"hormone-receptor-status","kind":"term","name":"Hormone receptor status (ER / PR)","aka":["HR+/HER2−","HR+/HER2-","HR-positive, HER2-negative","HR-positive/HER2-negative","ER/PR","ER-positive","ER positive","ER+","ER-negative","ER−","PR-positive","PR+","HR-positive","HR+","HR-negative","HR−","hormone receptor-positive","hormone receptor positive","hormone-receptor-positive","oestrogen receptor-positive","progesterone receptor","ER-low","PgR","estrogen receptor-positive","estrogen receptor positive","estrogen-receptor-positive","oestrogen-receptor-positive","oestrogen-driven","estrogen-driven","luminal","luminal A","luminal B"],"tldr":"Whether a breast cancer's cells carry receptors for oestrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR). If they do, the cancer is fed by these hormones and can be treated by blocking them; about 70% of breast cancers are hormone receptor-positive.","summary":"Measured by immunohistochemistry on every breast cancer; ≥1% of nuclei staining counts as positive (1-10% is 'ER-low' and behaves more like negative). HR-positive/HER2-negative disease receives endocrine therapy (tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors, SERDs) with CDK4/6 inhibitors in high-risk or metastatic settings; HR status combined with HER2 defines the four clinical subtypes (HR+/HER2−, HER2+, triple-negative). Endometrial, ovarian and some other cancers are also ER/PR tested. Loss of ER at relapse and ESR1 mutations mark endocrine resistance.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen_receptor","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen_receptor"},{"label":"Royal College of Pathologists G148: dataset for histopathological reporting of breast disease in surgical excision specimens of breast cancer, version 3, November 2024 (full review due November 2026)","url":"https://www.rcpath.org/resourceLibrary/g148-dataset-for-histopathological-reporting-of-breast-disease-in-surgical-excision-specimens-of-breast-cancer.html"}],"tags":[],"related":["her2-positive","aromatase-inhibitor","serd","endocrine-resistance","er-pr-scoring-breast"],"cancers":["breast-hr-positive","tnbc"],"sections":["hormonal","diagnostics"],"technologies":["endocrine-therapy","histopathology-ihc"],"targets":["estrogen-receptor"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["er-pr-scoring-breast","receptor-conversion-breast","grade-stage-receptor-breast"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["How the number is produced, and why 90 percent and 100 percent mean the same thing. Only nuclear staining in the invasive part of the tumour is counted, and the UK dataset asks for a percentage with an intensity and, optionally, an Allred score out of 8 or an H score out of 300; there is no internationally agreed scoring method. With modern methods the distribution is bimodal, most tumours being either completely negative or stained in more than 70 percent of nuclei, so the difference between two high percentages is noise while a result in the 1 to 10 percent band is a different question (see `er-pr-scoring-breast` and `er-pr-negative-threshold`).","Progesterone receptor is not a mandatory item of the UK pathology dataset. ASCO and CAP state that only oestrogen receptor should be used to predict benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy, and the RCPath writing group, finding no consensus, left progesterone receptor out of the mandated dataset while recommending it as good practice; NICE NG101 1.3.3 asks for it on every invasive cancer. Its value is prognostic within oestrogen receptor-positive disease, and as a quality check, because an oestrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-positive result is at best very rare and should prompt review of the oestrogen receptor stain."],"category":"Biomarkers"},"route":"/terms/hormone-receptor-status/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"aromatase-inhibitor","kind":"term","name":"Aromatase inhibitor","route":"/terms/aromatase-inhibitor/"},{"id":"endocrine-resistance","kind":"term","name":"Endocrine resistance","route":"/terms/endocrine-resistance/"},{"id":"endocrine-therapy-resistance","kind":"term","name":"Endocrine therapy and endocrine resistance","route":"/terms/endocrine-therapy-resistance/"},{"id":"grade-stage-receptor-breast","kind":"term","name":"Grade, stage and receptor status: three different things on one breast report","route":"/terms/grade-stage-receptor-breast/"},{"id":"her2-positive","kind":"term","name":"HER2-positive (IHC 3+ or ISH-amplified)","route":"/terms/her2-positive/"},{"id":"er-pr-scoring-breast","kind":"term","name":"How ER and PR are scored on a breast report (Allred score, H score, and why PR is not a UK core item)","route":"/terms/er-pr-scoring-breast/"},{"id":"nsmp","kind":"term","name":"No specific molecular profile (NSMP) endometrial cancer","route":"/terms/nsmp/"},{"id":"receptor-conversion-breast","kind":"term","name":"Receptor conversion: when the receptors change between the primary and a recurrence","route":"/terms/receptor-conversion-breast/"},{"id":"serd","kind":"term","name":"Selective oestrogen receptor degrader (SERD)","route":"/terms/serd/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"breast-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Breast cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/breast-cancer/"},{"id":"breast-hr-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/"},{"id":"male-breast-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Male breast cancer","route":"/cancers/male-breast-cancer/"},{"id":"tnbc","kind":"cancer","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)","route":"/cancers/tnbc/"}],"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"},{"id":"hormonal","kind":"section","name":"Hormonal Therapy","route":"/fronts/hormonal/"}],"technology":[{"id":"endocrine-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)","route":"/technologies/endocrine-therapy/"},{"id":"histopathology-ihc","kind":"technology","name":"Histopathology & immunohistochemistry","route":"/technologies/histopathology-ihc/"}],"target":[{"id":"dnajc12","kind":"target","name":"DNAJC12","route":"/targets/dnajc12/"},{"id":"estrogen-receptor","kind":"target","name":"Estrogen receptor (ERα)","route":"/targets/estrogen-receptor/"}],"biomarker":[{"id":"er-status","kind":"biomarker","name":"ER status (oestrogen receptor by IHC)","route":"/biomarkers/er-status/"},{"id":"pr-status","kind":"biomarker","name":"PR status (progesterone receptor by IHC)","route":"/biomarkers/pr-status/"}]}}