Immunohistochemical Expression of Androgen Receptor (AR) and its Relationship with Clinicpathological Parameters in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast carcinoma is one of the most common malignant and the leading cause of cancer related death among women all around the world. Gene expression profiling characterized 4 major groups of BC, which classified patients into Luminal A, Luminal B, HER-2/neu enriched, and Triple Negative BC (TNBC). Among the members of the steroid receptor superfamily the role of estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER and PR) and HER2 are play a role in breast cancer as both predictive and prognostic markers and management of therapy. Androgen Receptor (AR) is a steroid nuclear receptor involved in complex signaling pathways that are thought to play a role in cell proliferation. Greater than70% of human breast cancers expresses the androgen receptor (AR) and varies significantly among molecular subtypes of breast cancer and its contribution to the progression of disease may differ depending on the stage. In this study, we aimed to examine the expression pattern of AR and its association with clinicopathological parameters and IHC markers.Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on breast cancers using antibodies against androgen receptor (AR), esterogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type-2 (HER2). The levels of expression were scored semiquantitatively.Results: AR positivity was noted in Thirty-four of the cases, whereas the other thirteen cases were negative. AR was significantly related to tumors histological type (p= 0.002), tumor grade (p= 0.002) and positive PR/HER2 status (p= 0.04). No statistical difference was demonstrated in AR expression in relation to tumor size (p= 0.12), lymph node status (p= 0.68) and expression of ER (p= 0.23). Conclusion: breast carcinomas express AR positivity more than ER, PR and HER2 status. In addition, the expression of AR correlated to lower tumor grade which could serve as a good prognostic factor and potential therapeutic target. However, this finding will need to be confirmed by large cohort studies.