The Clinical Importance of Androgen Receptor Status in Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Turkish Patients with Local and Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate whether androgen receptor (AR) status affects neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in stage II and III Turkish breast cancer patients. METHODS: The histological response for breast and axilla was assessed according to the Miller-Payne grading system. In light microscopy, nuclear staining in tumor cells was evaluated, and nuclear staining above 1% was accepted as positive for AR expression. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to the intensity of AR staining: low, moderate, and high. RESULTS: In total, 71 women with breast cancer were included in the study. In univariate analysis, age, menopause status, tumor diameter, stage, histological grade, Ki-67, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status were tested to determine which of these factors were associated with >90% responsiveness. AR negativity was found to be the only statistically significant factor. In multivariate analysis, AR positivity at each intensity was found to be the single important factor affecting decreasing pathologic response in patients receiving NACT for breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Our results show that AR positivity is associated with poor response to NACT in Turkish breast cancer patients and that AR positivity is independent of stage, hormone receptor status, HER-2 status, and disease stage.