Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2020 May 6;15(5):e0232519. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232519. eCollection 2020.
Evaluation of the role of androgen receptor (AR) in the biology of breast cancer is an emerging area of research. There are compelling evidences that AR expression may be used to further refine breast cancer molecular subtyping with prognostic and therapeutic implications. Many studies indicated co-expression of AR with the hormonal receptors in breast cancer has a favorable prognosis. AR is also investigated by many researchers as a potential therapeutic target in treatment of breast cancer. Studies on the frequency and distribution of AR in breast cancer among Africans is barely available. Given the heightened interest to understand its role in breast cancer, we determined AR expression and assessed its association with clinicopathological parameters among Ethiopian women. In this study, 112 newly diagnosed patient with invasive breast cancer at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital were enrolled. Immunohistochemical assessment of AR, ER, PR, Ki67 and HER2 were performed using tissue microarrays (TMA) constructed from their primary tumor block. Out of the 112 participants, 91 (81%) were positive for AR expression and the remaining 21 participants (19%) were negative for AR expression. Expression of AR in ER+, HER2+ and TNBC cases were 93%, 83% and 48% respectively. Our study reveals AR is expressed in a significant number of breast cancers patients and this may indicate that breast cancers cases in Ethiopia have favorable prognosis and could benefit from progresses in AR targeted treatments. Since AR expression has important consequences on the prognosis and treatment of breast cancer, further studies with an increased number of participants is necessary to confirm our reports.
评估雄激素受体 (AR) 在乳腺癌生物学中的作用是一个新兴的研究领域。有强有力的证据表明，AR 表达可用于进一步细化乳腺癌的分子分型，具有预后和治疗意义。许多研究表明，AR 与乳腺癌中的激素受体共同表达具有良好的预后。AR 也被许多研究人员作为治疗乳腺癌的潜在治疗靶点进行研究。关于非洲人群乳腺癌中 AR 的频率和分布的研究几乎没有。鉴于人们对了解其在乳腺癌中的作用的兴趣日益浓厚，我们确定了 AR 表达，并评估了其与埃塞俄比亚女性临床病理参数的相关性。在这项研究中，我们招募了 112 名新诊断的提克里安贝萨专科医院浸润性乳腺癌患者。使用组织微阵列 (TMA) 对 AR、ER、PR、Ki67 和 HER2 进行免疫组织化学评估，这些 TMA 是从他们的原发性肿瘤块构建的。在 112 名参与者中，91 名（81%）AR 表达阳性，21 名（19%）AR 表达阴性。在 ER+、HER2+和 TNBC 病例中，AR 的表达分别为 93%、83%和 48%。我们的研究表明，AR 在相当数量的乳腺癌患者中表达，这可能表明埃塞俄比亚的乳腺癌病例具有良好的预后，并可能受益于 AR 靶向治疗的进展。由于 AR 表达对乳腺癌的预后和治疗有重要影响，因此需要进行更多参与者的进一步研究来证实我们的报告。
