Androgen Receptor Status in Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Does It Correlate with Clinicopathological Characteristics?

Abstract

Purpose Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a breast carcinoma subtype that neither expresses estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) nor the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Patients with TNBC have been shown to have poorer outcomes mainly owing to the limited treatment options available. However, some studies have shown TNBC tumors expressing androgen receptors (AR), raising hopes of its prognostic role. Patients and Methods This retrospective study investigated the expression of AR in TNBC and its relationship with known patient demographics, tumor and survival characteristics. From the records of 205 TNBC patients, 36 had available archived tissue samples eligible for AR staining. For statistical purposes, tumors were classified as either “positive” or “negative” for AR expression. The nuclear expression of AR was scored by measuring the percentage of stained tumor cells and its staining intensity. Results AR was expressed by 50% of the tissue samples in our TNBC cohort. The relationship between AR status with age at the time of TNBC diagnosis was statistically significant, with all AR positive TNBC patients being greater than 50 years old (vs 72.2% in AR negative TNBC). Also, the relationship between AR status and type of surgery received was statistically significant. There were no statistically significant associations between AR status with other tumor characteristics including “TNM status”, tumor grade or treatments received. There was no statistically significant difference in median survival between AR negative and AR positive TNBC patients (3.5 vs 3.1 years; p = 0.581). The relationship between OS time and AR status (p = 0.581), type of surgery (p = 0.061) and treatments (p = 0.917) were not statistically significant. Conclusion The androgen receptor may be an important prognostic marker in TNBC, with further research warranted. This research may benefit future studies investigating receptor-targeted therapies in TNBC.

The Potential of Hormonal Therapies for Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

“…Possible explanations for this discrepancy can include several factors such as the demographic and TNBC subtypes being analyzed, as well as the effect of different AR mutations upon patient outcome [43]. A lack of standardization among the methodologies and AR cut-off percentages used could also contribute to the conflicting results [63]. Despite this, targeting AR is still a viable option as, similar to ERα-positive tumors, AR-positive tumors are dependent on AR function [54].…”

Triple-negative breast cancer: from none to multiple therapeutic targets in two decades

“…Compared to the other subtypes, it is more common in older women and expresses higher levels of AR. Additionally, it has a lower percentage of Ki-67 and frequently exhibits apocrine differentiation (10,41,(44)(45)(46). Although HER2-negative, almost 50% of LAR tumors belong to the intrinsic molecular type HER2enriched (45).…”