Androgen Receptor Analysis in Relation to Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors as well as Histological Grade for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast

Background and Objective: Since the advent of mammography screening, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast has been diagnosed increasingly. In contrast to the situation in invasive breast carcinoma, there are only a few reports on androgen receptor (AR) status in DCIS and few reports on estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. Materials and Methods: AR expression was examined in 51 cases of DCIS of the breast and correlated to the degree of differentiation and ER/PR expression status in accordance to immunohistochemical results. Results: AR immunoreactivity was noted in 17 of the cases, whereas the other 34 cases were negative. There was also no significant association between AR expression and the degree of differentiation of DCIS; two of the 11 well-differentiated DCIS cases, nine of the 17 intermediately differentiated cases, and six of the 23 poorly differentiated cases were AR positive (p = 0.091). However, a strong association was shown between the expression of ER (p < 0.001) and PR (p = 0.002) and the degree of differentiation of DCIS. In addition, no significant association was found between the expression of AR and the expression of ER (p = 0.37) or PR (p = 0.63) in DCIS of the breast. Conclusion: Clinically significant number of cases of DCIS of the breast expresses AR, which may affect accurate typing of DCIS. Moreover, the expression of AR (but not ER or PR) in DCIS does not appear to be associated with the degree of differentiation.