Androgen receptor expression and prognosis in Hispanic/Latino women with triple negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype that has no available molecular targets. It occurs most often in premenopausal African-American and Hispanic/Latino women. In Colombia, its prevalence has been reported to be 20.6%. Androgen receptor (AR) belongs to the steroid nuclear receptor family and has been recently considered a potential biomarker for breast cancer. Considering the high prevalence of TNBC in Colombian women and the lack of knowledge of AR expression, our aim was to determine the frequency of AR expression and its association with pathological variables. 149 women diagnosed with TNBC between 2011 and 2014 were included. Clinical and pathological data were obtained from medical and pathology reports. Information on hormone receptor status, Ki67 expression and HER2 was reevaluated by a pathologist. AR expression was considered positive when it exceeded 1% of nuclear staining in tumor cells. AR expression was detected in 41.6% of the samples. Although we did not find statistically significant differences in clinic-pathological variables according to AR expression, patients with AR expression over 50% were younger (53.92 years vs. 60.78 years, p=0.027) and presented higher Ki67 expression (64.06% vs. 47.32%, p=0.05), compared to patients with a low AR expression. The median overall survival in our sample of TNBC patients was 2.45 years. The expression of AR in our sample was similar to the expression in populations of European descent. We found statistically significant differences in age at diagnosis and Ki67 expression according to AR expression. El carcinoma de mama triple negativo (CMTN) es un subtipo de carcinoma con comportamiento agresivo y sin dianas moleculares disponibles. Se presenta en mujeres premenopáusicas afroamericanas y latinas. En Colombia, la prevalencia informada es del 20.6%. Los receptores de andrógenos (RA) pertenecen a una familia de receptores nucleares y son considerados como potencial biomarcador. Debido a la alta prevalencia de CMTN en mujeres colombianas y la ausencia de datos sobre los RA, el objetivo del trabajo fue determinar la frecuencia de RA y su asociación con otras variables histopatológicas. El estudio incluyó a 149 mujeres diagnosticadas con CMTN entre 2011 y 2014. Las variables clínicas y patológicas fueron extraídas de la historia clínica. Los receptores hormonales, índice Ki67 y Her2 fueron reevaluados por un patólogo. Los RA fueron considerados positivos cuando más del 1% de los nú