Zeitschrift für Integrative Onkologie

Prevalence Of Androgen Receptor Positivity In Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Martin P Jovita M, Kalaichelvi Kannan and Kumar S Suresh

A unique subgroup of breast cancer, the Triple negative Breast carcinoma (TNBC) is on the rising trend. TNBC occurrence is around 15-20% of all breast cancers. Therefore this makes it an ideal target for therapeutic exploitation. TNBC is defined by the absence of a target, therefore, there is absence of a tailored targeted therapy, leaving its management depend on conventional cytotoxic regimens. The presence of AR in ER negative cases is 30%, in TNBC the AR positivity is <20% (some studies have even accounted that the overall AR positivity in Breast cancer is 60-70%). This group of patients poses a major challenge to the physicians and patientsThe total breast cancer patients between the periods of October 2014 to February 2014 were 734 cases, 142 cases were triple negative breast cancer cases as demonstrated by the Immunohistochemistry. Androgen receptor was considered positive if >10% of cells showed positivity in Immunohistochemistry. Androgen receptor is Negative amongst a majority of 88% of patients with 12% remaining AR Positive off which 8% is High, 3 Medium and 1 Low Positive. The p value is 0.000 which is <0.05 hence the value is significant. The percentage of AR positivity in TNBC in this study concurs with the literature findings. This explains the importance of the same in TNBC as it seems to be an important avenue for therapeutic targeting because, this group of patients do not have much options for treatment. Further studies, with the use of androgen receptor blockade through drugs like Bicalutamide/Enzalutamide/Abireterone in AR positive TNBC could be studied to know the survival improvement.