Department of Pathology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Department of Pathology, University of Sierra Leone Teaching Hospitals Complex, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Ann Afr Med. 2024 Jul 1;23(3):452-458. doi: 10.4103/aam.aam_83_23. Epub 2024 Apr 5.
Despite the advancement in therapy, breast cancer still remains the most common malignancy in women globally due in part to its heterogeneity. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents up to 20% of all breast cancer variants, an aggressive disease with poorer outcomes compared to other breast cancer subtypes. No targeted therapies are currently approved for TNBC, and newer treatment approaches are seriously needed. Androgen receptor (AR), another hormonal receptor, is often expressed in breast cancer, and its role depends on the relative levels of circulating estrogens and androgens. This study aimed to assess the expression of AR in breast cancer in a tertiary hospital in Ghana.
Immunohistochemical staining for AR was performed on tissue microarray (TMA) blocks, of which estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and Her-2/neu had already been done. 197 cases were suitable for the study. Results from the immunostaining were analyzed using the SPSS version 23 for descriptive statistics and correlations (χ2 and Pearson tests).
197 TMA cases were used. TNBCs constitute 61.9% of the cancers. The majority of these tumors were grade III, ductal carcinoma NST. The mean age was 49.86 ± 14.09, and the modal age group was 40-49 years. Our cases showed 23% AR expression in triple-negative cancers. The study also established that AR is more frequently expressed in low-grade tumors compared to high-grade ones.
There is an appreciable level of AR expression in our cases; however, most are quadruple negative. However, AR is more frequently expressed in low-grade tumors than high-grade ones.
尽管治疗方法有所进步，但乳腺癌仍是全球女性最常见的恶性肿瘤，部分原因是其异质性。三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）占所有乳腺癌变异的 20%左右，是一种侵袭性疾病，与其他乳腺癌亚型相比预后较差。目前尚无针对 TNBC 的靶向治疗药物，迫切需要新的治疗方法。雄激素受体（AR）是另一种激素受体，常在乳腺癌中表达，其作用取决于循环雌激素和雄激素的相对水平。本研究旨在评估加纳一家三级医院乳腺癌中 AR 的表达。
对组织微阵列（TMA）块进行 AR 的免疫组织化学染色，其中已经完成了雌激素受体、孕激素受体和 Her-2/neu 的检测。197 例适合本研究。使用 SPSS 版本 23 进行描述性统计和相关性（χ2 和 Pearson 检验）分析免疫染色结果。
使用了 197 个 TMA 病例。TNBC 占癌症的 61.9%。这些肿瘤大多数为 III 级，非特殊型导管癌。平均年龄为 49.86±14.09 岁，模态年龄组为 40-49 岁。我们的病例在三阴性癌症中显示 23%的 AR 表达。该研究还证实，AR 在低级别肿瘤中的表达频率高于高级别肿瘤。
我们的病例中存在相当水平的 AR 表达；然而，大多数为四阴性。然而，AR 在低级别肿瘤中的表达频率高于高级别肿瘤。
