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

Witzel I, Loibl S, Wirtz R, Fasching P, Denkert C, Weber K, Lück HJ, Huober J, Karn T, Mackelenbergh Mv, Marmé F, Schem C, Stickeler E, Untch M, Müller V (2019)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal

British Journal of Cancer Cancer Research UK

DOI: 10.1038/s41416-019-0630-3

Abstract

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.

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Fasching Professur für Translationale Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe

Involved external institutions

HELIOS Kliniken DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) DE Germany (DE) Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Main (KGU) DE Germany (DE) STRATIFYER Molecular Pathology GmbH DE Germany (DE) GBG Forschungs GmbH (German Breast Group) DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) DE Germany (DE) Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Ulm DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Witzel, I., Loibl, S., Wirtz, R., Fasching, P., Denkert, C., Weber, K.,... Müller, V. (2019). Androgen receptor expression and response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant TECHNO and PREPARE trial. British Journal of Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-019-0630-3

MLA:

Witzel, Isabell, et al. "Androgen receptor expression and response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients treated in the neoadjuvant TECHNO and PREPARE trial." British Journal of Cancer (2019).

BibTeX: Download