Intrinsic Subtypes and Androgen Receptor Gene Expression in Primary Breast Cancer. A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The androgen receptor (AR) is frequently expressed in breast cancer (BC), but its association with clinical and biological parameters of BC patients remains unclear. Here, we investigated the association of AR gene expression according to intrinsic BC subtypes by meta-analysis of large-scale microarray transcriptomic datasets. Sixty-two datasets including 10315 BC patients were used in the meta-analyses. Interestingly, AR mRNA level is significantly increased in patients categorized with less aggressive intrinsic molecular subtypes including, Luminal A compared to Basal-like (standardized mean difference, SMD: 2.12; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.88 to 2.35; p p AR mRNA expression was higher in patients with low histological grade (p AR mRNA in BC patients expressing either estrogen or progesterone receptors (p AR are associated with BC subgroups with the less aggressive clinical features.

Keywords

• androgen receptor
• intrinsic subtypes
• breast cancer
• meta-analysis