Correlation between Androgen Receptor Expression and Immunohistochemistry Type as Prognostic Factors in a Cohort of Breast Cancer Patients: Result from a Single-Center, Cross Sectional Study.

Irina Niță,Cornelia Nițipir,Edvina Pîrvu,Ioana Suciu,George Suciu,Ioana Anca Bădărău,Loredana Sabina Cornelia Manolescu,Ștefania Andreea Toma,Alexandra Maria Limbău

doi:10.3390/healthcare9030277

Irina Niță, Cornelia Nițipir + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030277

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Abstract

Background: We investigated the correlation between the androgen receptor (AR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a prognostic factor in breast cancer (BC). AR is expressed in 60–80% of BC. Methods: We evaluated the prognostic values of AR expression among 143 patients with BC for 36 months. The protocol was amended to measure androgen, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression by IHC and the percentage of hormone positive nuclei was quantified. We determined and quantified the Her2/neu status using IHC and in situ hybridization. The methodology consisted in using a Kaplan–Meier analysis and restricted mean survival time up to 36 months. The principal endpoints of the study were overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). Results: 57% of patients (n = 82) from our group had AR+ (≥ 1%). Patients with AR+ had better OS, 35.50 vs. 33.40 months, with p = 0.027. Moreover, PFS was prolonged for patients AR+, 32.60 vs. 30.50 months, with p = 0.38. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients had lower OS and no difference was observed for PFS. Conclusions: Both OS and PFS were favorably influenced by the presence of AR. TNBC had worse outcomes compared with patients with hormonal or/and Her 2/neu positive disease in terms of OS.

Highlights

For a complete characterization of a breast cancer, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines require classification of malignant tumors (TNM) and a minimal histo-pathological report that must include the grade of differentiation according to Nottingham scale and an immune-histo-chemical panel for prognostic and predictive factors for molecular classification in luminal or nonluminal subtypes
For the IHC aspects, we shared our groups of patients into four categories regarding the status of ER, PR and her 2/neu.:
We divided the statistical analysis into two chapters according to the established endpoints, overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS), considering the androgen receptors and the IHC results

Summary

Introduction

For a complete characterization of a breast cancer, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines require classification of malignant tumors (TNM) and a minimal histo-pathological report that must include the grade of differentiation according to Nottingham scale and an immune-histo-chemical panel for prognostic and predictive factors for molecular classification in luminal or nonluminal subtypes. Those are hormone receptor expression, estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR), proliferation index measured using antigen Ki 67 and the HER2neu oncogene status. The principal endpoints of the study were overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS)

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