Prognostic role of androgen receptor expression in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

At present, there are no valid prognostic biomarkers in patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) except well known clinical factors such as tumor size, lymph node status, differentiation grade and proliferation rate. Aim: To evaluate the prognostic role of androgen receptor (AR) expression in patients with TNBC. Materials and Methods: The effect of the AR expression level in tumor tissue on overall survival depending on clinical, histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of the tumor was evaluated in 116 patients with metastatic TNBC. Results: The independent prognostic value of AR expression in patients with TNBC of different stages was shown. The median overall survival was higher in patients with AR-positive tumors compared with AR-negative tumors (57 months vs. 27 months, p < 0.0001). Five-year survival since diagnosis in the group with AR-positive TNBC was 47.6 ± 8.3% vs 20.0 ± 5.3% in the group with AR-negative TNBC (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of our study indicate a favorable impact of AR expression on the overall survival of TNBC patients.