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Breast Cancer Hormone Receptor Status
After a breast biopsy or surgery, some cancer cells are tested to see if they have certain proteins called estrogen or progesterone receptors, which can help them grow. Cancers are called hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-negative based on whether they have these receptors.
Knowing the hormone receptor status of a cancer helps determine the best treatment. Ask your cancer care team about your hormone receptor status and what it means for you.
What are estrogen and progesterone receptors?
Receptors are proteins in or on cells that can attach to certain substances. Normal breast cells and some breast cancer cells have receptors that attach to the hormones estrogen and progesterone. These hormones help the cells to grow.
Breast cancer cells might have one, both, or neither of these receptors.
How are breast tumors tested for hormone receptors?
A test called immunohistochemistry (IHC) is used most often to find out if cancer cells have estrogen and progesterone receptors.
IHC for hormone receptors uses lab-made antibodies (immune system proteins) to detect hormone receptors. Each antibody binds only to its specific hormone receptor, and a chemical reaction causes a color change that can be seen under a microscope.
Results of this test can be:
- Negative, when less than 1% of cells stain for hormone receptors.
- Low positive, when 1% to 10% of cells stain for hormone receptors.
- Positive, when more than 10% of cells stain for hormone receptors.
These test results help guide treatment decisions. People with breast cancers with more than 1% of cells with hormone receptors are offered hormone therapy.
What do the hormone receptor test results mean?
Breast cancer cells might have one, both, or none of these receptors.
- ER-positive (ER+) breast cancers have estrogen receptors.
- PR-positive (PR+) breast cancers have progesterone receptors.
- Hormone receptor-positive (hormone-positive, HR+) breast cancers have one or both of the receptors above.
- Hormone receptor-negative (hormone-negative, HR-) breast cancers do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors.
About 3 of 4 breast cancers have at least one of these receptors. This percentage is higher in older women than in younger women. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) should also be checked for hormone receptors.
All invasive breast cancers should be tested for both of these hormone receptors either on the biopsy sample or when the tumor is removed with surgery.
Hormone receptor status, treatment, and outlook
Hormone receptor status can impact the treatment and outlook of breast cancer.
Hormone receptor-positive breast cancers can be treated with hormone therapy, which blocks estrogen and progesterone from attaching to their receptors. Hormone receptor-positive cancers tend to grow more slowly than those that are hormone receptor-negative. People with hormone receptor-positive cancers tend to have a better outlook in the short term, but these cancers can sometimes come back many years after treatment.
Hormone receptor-negative breast cancers don’t respond to hormone therapy drugs. These cancers tend to grow faster than hormone receptor-positive cancers. If they come back after treatment, it’s often in the first few years. Hormone receptor-negative cancers are more common in younger women who have not yet gone through menopause.
Triple-negative breast cancer cells are hormone receptor-negative and don’t make too much of the HER2 protein (HER2-negative). They don’t respond to hormone therapy drugs or drugs that target HER2, although, chemotherapy can still be useful. These cancers tend to be more common in women younger than 40 years of age, Black women, or women who have a mutation in the BRCA1 gene. Triple-negative breast cancers grow and spread faster than most other types of breast cancer.
See Triple-negative Breast Cancer to learn more.
Triple-positive cancers are ER-positive, PR-positive, and make too much of the HER2 protein (HER2-positive). These cancers can be treated with hormone therapy and drugs that target HER2.
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- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
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Last Revised: July 23, 2026
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