雄激素受体（AR)在乳腺癌中的表达

Instruction: Androgen receptor (AR) has been implicated to be important in breast carcinoma. The objective of this study is to investigate its relationship with estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2,and Ki67 in primary breast cancer in Chinese patients from a single institution. Methods: We evaluated the expression of AR, ER, PR, HER-2 and Ki67 by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 1069 consecutive cases of breast cancer, along with their clinical features including patient age, tumor size, tumor type, tumor grade and lymph node status; and then analyzed the relationship between AR expression and these clinicopathologic factors. Results: Expression of AR higher than that of ER and PR, and was highest in carcinoma in situ. Its expression also differed among various types of breast carcinoma with highest among invasive lobular carcinoma and mucinous carcinoma and lowest with medullary carcinoma. AR expression was significantly correlated with small tumor size, low proliferation index and expression of ER and PR. In ER negative tumors, AR was strongly associated with HER2 over-expression as well as expression of PR, low Ki-67, and small tumor. In PR negative tumors, AR was strongly associated with ER and low Ki-67, but not with HER2 over-expression and tumor size. In HER2 negative tumors, AR was strongly associated with ER, PR, low Ki-67, but not with tumor size. Conclusion: AR expression in Chinese patients is associated with small tumor size, favorable differentiation and low proliferation index; and there are significantly different expression patterns for AR in ER, PR, HER2 positive and negative tumors, indicating their close relationship in breast carcinogenesis. Further studied are needed for investigate the inter-relationship among these factors in breast carcinomas.