Zeng Yiwei, Liu Renbin, Rong Limin
Department of Spine Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, China.
Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510630, China.
BMC Cancer. 2025 Jul 1;25(1):1115. doi: 10.1186/s12885-025-14422-3.
Although androgen receptor (AR) is highly expressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but its role in predicting distant metastasis remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the association between AR expression and distant metastasis, including bone metastasis, in TNBC patients.
We retrospectively analyzed clinical and pathological data from TNBC patients treated at two cancer centers between January 2016 and December 2022. Only cases with AR expression assessed by immunohistochemistry were included. Differences in clinical characteristics, preoperative ultrasound findings, treatment regimens, immunohistochemical features, and lymph node status were compared between patients with and without distant metastases. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with metastasis.
Among 381 TNBC patients, 79 (20.7%) developed distant metastases. The AR-negative status was significantly more common in the metastasis group than in the non-metastatic group (65.8% vs. 48.7%, P = 0.0007). Similarly, AR negativity prevalence was higher among patients with bone-only or bone plus visceral metastases compared to those without metastasis (64.4% vs. 48.7%, P = 0.048). Multivariate analysis identified AR-negative status as an independent risk factor for distant metastasis (P = 0.008), while its association with bone metastasis was not statistically significant.
Negative AR expression in primary TNBC tumors may serve as a potential predictive marker for distant metastasis. Further research is needed to clarify its role in bone metastasis.
尽管雄激素受体（AR）在三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）中高度表达，但其在预测远处转移中的作用仍不确定。本研究旨在探讨TNBC患者中AR表达与远处转移（包括骨转移）之间的关联。
我们回顾性分析了2016年1月至2022年12月期间在两个癌症中心接受治疗的TNBC患者的临床和病理数据。仅纳入通过免疫组织化学评估AR表达的病例。比较有远处转移和无远处转移患者的临床特征、术前超声检查结果、治疗方案、免疫组织化学特征和淋巴结状态。采用逻辑回归分析确定与转移相关的因素。
在381例TNBC患者中，79例（20.7%）发生远处转移。转移组中AR阴性状态显著多于非转移组（65.8%对48.7%，P = 0.0007）。同样，与无转移患者相比，仅发生骨转移或骨转移加内脏转移的患者中AR阴性患病率更高（64.4%对48.7%，P = 0.048）。多因素分析确定AR阴性状态是远处转移的独立危险因素（P = 0.008），而其与骨转移的关联无统计学意义。
原发性TNBC肿瘤中AR表达阴性可能是远处转移的潜在预测标志物。需要进一步研究以阐明其在骨转移中的作用。
