Androgen Receptor Expression Shows Distinctive Significance in ER Positive and Negative Breast Cancers

• Published in: Annals of surgical oncology 2014-07, Vol.21 (7), p.2218-2228
• Main Authors: Tsang, Julia Y. S., Ni, Yun-Bi, Chan, Siu-Ki, Shao, Mu-Min, Law, Bonita K. B., Tan, Puay Hoon, Tse, Gary M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Breast Oncology; Cohort Studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Grading; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Neoplasm Staging; Oncology; Prognosis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - metabolism; Receptors, Androgen - metabolism; Receptors, Estrogen - metabolism; Receptors, Progesterone - metabolism; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; Survival Rate; Tissue Array Analysis; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1068-9265; 1534-4681
• DOI: 10.1245/s10434-014-3629-2

Background Androgen receptor (AR), a nuclear steroid hormone receptor, is differentially expressed in breast cancer subgroups with distinct clinical implications. Methods To investigate the clinical significance of AR in breast cancers more precisely, the expression of AR in a large cohort of breast cancer was correlated with clinicopathological features, biomarker expression, and patients’ survival according to different molecular groupings in this study. Results Higher AR expression was found in ER+ (57.8 %) than in ER− (24.7 %) cancers. In the ER+ cancers, AR expression was associated with favorable clinicopathological features, including lower grade ( p