Clinicopathological Characteristics and Androgen Receptor Expression of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Study in Upper Egypt

Document Type : Original research articles

Authors

1 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine , Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

2 Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is a big challenging problem for public health. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer which is more aggressive; with no specific treatment guidelines are available. It was noted that androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in TNBC, suggesting that anti-androgens are a promising strategy for treatment. Recently, it was found racial differences in the biologic behavior of TNBC.
Objectives: This study aims to assess the clinicopathological features of TNBC in Upper Egypt, and to evaluate the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of AR in TNBC, in comparison to hormone receptor positive (HR+) invasive duct carcinomas (IDC) as a control group.
Patients and Methods: IHC expression of AR was examined in 45 TNBC specimens and 15 HR+ IDC (ER+ and PR+/-).
Results: Most of the TNBC cases were ≤50 years and their tumors had high histological grade, presence of lymphovascular emboli, lymph node metastasis and tumor necrosis while few cases revealed duct carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and most patients were stage I & II.TNBC group had significantly younger age, DCIS, higher nodal metastasis and necrosis compared to control group. AR expression was significantly higher in the control group.
 Conclusion: TNBC occurs at young age and is associated with poor clinicopathological criteria, suggesting the presence of underlying BRCA mutations in our population. AR was expressed in a subset of TNBC, this makes AR an interesting drug target for those patients. Further molecular studies are recommended to uncover pathways of TNBC pathogenesis and improve its therapeutic options.

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SVU-International Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 4, Issue 2
August 2021
Pages 257-268

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