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Androgen receptor expression is useful to predict the therapeutic effect in HER2-positive breast carcinoma

  • Preclinical study
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Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Although HER2-positive (HER2+) invasive breast carcinomas (BC) have a different clinical therapeutic responsiveness according to estrogen and progesterone receptor expression, the relationship with androgen receptors (AR), which are the same family of steroid hormones, is poorly understood. We investigated the relationship between AR expression in HER2 BCs and therapeutic responsiveness and prognosis in this study.

Methods

We evaluated patients with HER2 (H) + invasive BC undergoing surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (± HER2-targeted therapies) from 2007–2017, classified as hormone receptor-positive (Allred score: 2–8) (luminal B: LH) and receptor-negative groups (Allred: score 0) (non-luminal: NLH). AR expression was assessed by immunostaining pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy biopsy specimens, positive with Allred score ≥ 4. The pathological complete response, disease-free survival, and overall survival rates were compared between AR-positive and AR-negative groups.

Results

We classified 82 patients with HER2 + invasive BC into LH (n = 45, 54.9%) and NLH groups (n = 37, 45.1%), and AR + was observed in 43 patients (52.4%) (LH: 23, 51.1%; NLH: 20, 54.1%; p = 0.79). Quasi-pathological complete response was observed in 40 patients (48.8%) (LH: 18, 40%; NLH: 22, 59.5%; p = 0.08) overall, and in 31 AR + patients (72.1%) (LH: 15, 34.9%; NLH: 16, 37.2%), significantly higher than in the AR − group for both subgroups (p < 0.001). Regarding prognosis, disease-free survival was relatively better in the AR + group in all HER2 + BCs (p = 0.085), and overall survival was significantly better in the AR + group for NLH (p = 0.029).

Conclusions

High AR expression may be a useful predictor of therapeutic effects and prognosis in both subgroups of HER2 + BCs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Jane Charbonneau, DVM, from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

The study was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number JP17K08707.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Momoko Akashi, Rin Yamaguchi, Hironori Kusano, Sachiko Ogasawara & Hirohisa Yano

  2. Department of Surgery, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Momoko Akashi & Yoshito Akagi

  3. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kurume University Medical Center, 155-1 Kokubu, Kurume, Fukuoka, 859-0863, Japan

    Rin Yamaguchi & Eiji Abe

  4. Department of Surgery, Japan Community Healthcare Organization Kurume General Hospital, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Miki Yamaguchi & Maki Tanaka

  5. Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Kurume University Hospital, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Jun Akiba

  6. Biostatistics Center, Kurume University School of Medicine, Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan

    Hitoshi Obara & Tatsuyuki Kakuma

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  1. Momoko Akashi
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  2. Rin Yamaguchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rin Yamaguchi.

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There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethics approval

This retrospective study was approved by the Kurume General Hospital Ethical Committee (No. 187) and Kurume University Ethical Committee (No. 16272).

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Informed consent was not required for this retrospective study.

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Akashi, M., Yamaguchi, R., Kusano, H. et al. Androgen receptor expression is useful to predict the therapeutic effect in HER2-positive breast carcinoma. Breast Cancer Res Treat 184, 277–285 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05855-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-020-05855-4

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