Expression of 5-a reductase type 1 (SRD5A1) in breast cancer: Association with tumor molecular subtypes and patient characteristics

Abstract

22170 Background: Preliminary reports indicate that dutasteride can suppress progesterone transformation into 5-alpha pregnane by SRD5A1 in breast cancer, resulting in suppression of cell proliferation and detachment. The aim of this study was to investigate SRD5A1 expression according to the breast cancer subtypes and patient characteristics. Methods: SRD5A1 mRNA expression levels were investigated in three breast cancer data sets consisting of a 64 genes Qrt-PCR data set (STB, 168 patients) and two micro-arrays data sets (295 and 286 patients). Results: SRD5A1 mRNA expression was found to be significantly higher in estrogen receptor (ER) negative tumors including the Basal like and HER2-positive subtypes. Moreover, elevated SRD5A1 were found to be associated with pre-menopausal status of the patients, high tumor grade and poor clinical outcome. Conclusions: SRD5A1 mRNA expression was found to be associated with ER-negative breast cancer phenotypes mainly found in tumors obtained from pre-menopausal women. Possible effects of dutasteride as well as a better characterization of 5-alpha pregnane receptors should be further investigated in these subtypes of breast cancer. No significant financial relationships to disclose.