Hoekman, A. (Anneloes) (2021) The fine balance between the androgen receptor and estrogen receptor in breast cancer. An evaluation of the androgen receptor (AR) / estrogen receptor (ER) ratio in breast cancer (BC). thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
The androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in the great majority (60-85%) of all breast cancers (BC) and appears to be of value as an additional prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target. However, controversy exists towards the role of AR expression, especially in relation to estrogen receptor (ER) expression. This makes the AR/ER ratio of increasing interest. In the present study the AR/ER ratio (change) was assessed in paired primary and metastatic BC tumors (PBC and MBC), related to clinicopathological assessment and metastatic free interval (MFI). The AR/ER ratio was calculated as AR% staining divided by ER% staining analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on Tissue Microarrays (TMA). In a case series of 142 patients, a negative association between the AR/ER ratio and primary tumor size of ER+ BC (B=-10.494, 95% CI=-18.998--1.990, P=0.02) was observed, while AR expression and primary tumor size were positively associated in ER- BC (B=0.275, 95% CI=0.020-0.529, P=0.04). Patients with ER+ BC were more likely to present with a non-visceral than visceral metastasis pattern if the AR/ER ratio in PBC was high (OR=4.450, 95% CI=1.290-15.354, P=0.02), indicating a more favorable disease course. In a subset of 70 patients with paired PBC and MBC, no correlations between the change in AR/ER ratio (∆AR/ER) and clinicopathological assessment were observed. No relation of the (∆)AR/ER ratio with MFI was found. In conclusion, the AR expression and AR/ER ratio show conflicting results in PBC, depending on BC subtype: in ER+ BC it appears to be a favorable prognostic characteristic, while in ER- BC this seems to be the opposite. This supportsfuture studies to validate its prognostic value in larger groups of specific BC subtypes.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Schröder, Dr. C.P. and Vegt, Dr. B. van der |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Dec 2021 15:30 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Dec 2021 15:30 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2900 |
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