Androgen receptor immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue.

Androgen deprivation remains the primary therapy for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Response to hormonal manipulation, however, has been quite variable. Androgen receptor (AR) expression has been used to predict clinical response to antiandrogenic treatment. However, methods of detection of AR expression have been limited to receptor biochemical assays in cytosolic or nuclear fractions of frozen tissue homogenates with obvious contamination problems by nonmalignant epithelial and stromal cells. As a result, studies correlating AR expression with response to hormonal therapy have been limited and controversial. More recently, immunohistochemical methods of analysis have become available, but only on frozen tissue. We describe a simple method to evaluate ARs on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections using antigen retrieval methods. Primary, as well as metastatic, prostate carcinomas showed nuclear staining for ARs. Secretory cells stained uniformly in hyperplastic and normal prostatic glands. The majority of stromal cells had strong nuclear positivity. All other cancers tested (colon, breast, lung, skin, kidney) were negative. This immunohistochemical technique allows evaluation of prostate cancer AR status in routinely processed tissues. Thus, application of this technology to archival material should permit assessment of whether AR expression is predictive of response to endocrine therapy in advanced prostate cancer.