Publication

Androgen receptor expression and response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant TECHNO and PREPARE trial

Journal Paper/Review - Nov 15, 2019

Units
PubMed
Doi

Citation
Witzel I, Untch M, Stickeler E, Schem C, Marme F, Mackelenbergh M, Karn T, Huober J, Lück H, Weber K, Denkert C, Fasching P, Wirtz R, Loibl S, Müller V. Androgen receptor expression and response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant TECHNO and PREPARE trial. Br J Cancer 2019; 121:1009-1015.
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
Br J Cancer 2019; 121
Publication Date
Nov 15, 2019
Issn Electronic
1532-1827
Pages
1009-1015
Brief description/objective

BACKGROUND
The androgen receptor (AR) is discussed as a prognostic and/or predictive marker in breast cancer patients.

METHODS
AR mRNA expression was analysed by RT-qPCR in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant TECHNO (n  =  118, HER2-positive) and PREPARE trial (n  =  321, HER2-positive and -negative). In addition, mRNA expression of the AR transcript variants 1 (AR1) and 2 (AR2) was measured.

RESULTS
Regarding subtypes, high AR mRNA levels were frequent in HER2-positive (61.3%, 92/150) and luminal tumours (60.0%, 96/160) but almost absent in triple-negative tumours (4.3%, 3/69) (p < 0.0001). Overall, high AR mRNA levels were found to be associated with lower pathological complete remission (pCR) rates (OR 0.77 per unit, 95% CI 0.67-0.88, p  =  0.0002) but also with better prognosis in terms of longer disease-free survival (DFS) (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.39-0.85, p  =  0.0054) and overall survival (OS) (HR 0.43, 95% CI, 0.26-0.71, p  =  0.0011). In the PREPARE trial, a survival difference for patients with high and low AR1 mRNA levels could only be seen in the standard chemotherapy arm but not in the dose-dense treatment arm (OS: HR 0.41; 95% CI 0.22-0.74 vs. HR 1.05; 95% CI 0.52-2.13; p  =  0.0459).

CONCLUSIONS
We provide evidence that AR mRNA predicts response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.