Androgen Receptor Expression in Endometrial Carcinoma and its Correlation with Clinicopathological Features-An Experience at a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Background Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is one of the most common gynecological malignancies and is frequently hormonally driven. Apart from the clinicopathological features, various biomarkers are important for predicting the prognosis, survival, and recurrence of the disease. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) have been extensively studied. Androgen receptor (AR) expression is correlated with ER and PR, suggesting the role of AR in EC, however, the correlation is less studied in EC. Objective This study aimed to assess the expression of AR in EC and to correlate it with ER and PR and with the clinic-pathological parameters of EC. Methods Our study included a total of fifty histologically proven cases of EC with twenty controls. AR, ER, and PR expression were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in each case and the expression of these biomarkers was correlated with clinicopathological features. AR expression was correlated with ER and PR and relevant statistical analysis was done. Results The mean age of the patients was 55.9 years. Among 50 cases of EC, 23(46%) revealed AR expression. The hyperplastic epithelium showed significantly higher expression of the AR, which persisted in low-grade EC, whereas, a loss of expression was noted in high-grade tumors ( p value = 0.002). AR expression showed a significant association with the type, grade, and stage of the disease. ER expression was noted in 62% and PR expression in 64% of cases of EC. There was a positive correlation between ER and PR expression with AR expression. Also, most of the cases showing AR positivity had a longer disease-free survival ( p value = 0.024). Conclusion ER and PR status are important prognostic markers for the prediction of anti-hormonal therapy in EC. AR expression is inversely associated with the grade of EC. Therefore, AR can serve as a biomarker and prognostic indicator and subsequent anti-androgen drugs may be of therapeutic use.