Gonzalez LO et al. - In a study to analyze the tumor expression of androgen receptors (AR), relationship with clinicopathological characteristics and expression of several matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs), as well as prognosis in pts with breast cancer, it was found that AR are commonly expressed in breast cancer, and are correlated with expression of some MMPs and TIMP-2. Although specific value of AR expression was found to be a prognostic indicator, the functional role of AR in these neoplasms is still unclear Methods
An immunohistochemical study was performed using tissue microarrays and specific antibodies against AR, MMPs -1, -2, -7, -9, -11, -13, -14, and TIMPs -1, -2 and -3
More than 2800 determinations on tumor specimens from 111 pts with primary invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast and controls were performed
Staining results were categorized using a score based on intensity of the staining and a specific software program calculated percentage of immunostained cells automatically
Results
83 cases showed a positive immunostaining for AR, but with a wide variation in staining score values
There were no significant associations between the total immunostaining scores for AR and any clinicopathological parameters
Score values for MMP-1, -7 and -13, were significantly higher in AR-positive tumors than in AR-negative tumors
When the cellular type expressing each factor was considered, it was found that AR-positive tumors had a higher percentage of cases positive for MMP-1, -7, -11, and TIMP-2 in their malignant cells, as well as for MMP-1 in intratumoral fibroblasts
On the other hand, pts with AR-positive tumors had a significantly longer overall survival than those with AR-negative breast carcinomas
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