Expression of androgen receptor in invasive ductal breast carcinomas: a clinicopathological study from Jordan.

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BACKGROUNDThe clinical relevance of androgen receptors (ARs) expressed in breast cancer cells and the suggested prognostic impact has been an area of active research. The prevalence rate of AR expression in breast cancer has never been reported among Jordanian patients.OBJECTIVEDetermine the expression rate of ARs among invasive ductal breast cancer cases of different stages and molecular subtypes. Also, analyze the relationship between AR expression and clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical criteria, and assess the impact of AR expression on survival.DESIGNRetrospective medical record review.SETTINGTertiary care hospital in Amman, Jordan.PATIENTS AND METHODSOur study comprised only of cases of invasive ductal breast carcinoma of no special type among females from records during a 10-year period between 2006 and 2015. Immunohistochemical staining was considered positive if more than 10% of tumor nuclei showed positive staining.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESThe expression rate of ARs and the association of the expression rate with the clinicopathologic features of invasive breast cancer.SAMPLE SIZE293.RESULTSImmunohistochemical staining for AR revealed positive staining in 180 (61.4%) cases, including approximately 50% of triple-negative breast cancer cases. AR positivity correlated with estrogen receptor (ER) status (P=.007) and smaller T size (P=.014). However, no significant association was found with any of the other variables. AR expression was positively associated with overall survival (P=.022) in general and in ER-positive cases (P=.012). However, in the multivariate Cox regression model, AR was not independently associated with survival.CONCLUSIONSThese results were consistent with international reports showing a significant relationship of AR expression with ER status. In addition, AR expression was significantly associated with smaller tumor size. Although AR status was not independently associated with survival, our data suggest AR is a good prognostic factor.LIMITATIONSSome clinical data were missing.