Androgen receptor expression in circulating tumor cells of patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Int J Cancer
; 145(4): 1083-1089, 2019 08 15.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30761532
ABSTRACT
The androgen receptor (AR) has potential clinical relevance in metastatic breast cancer (mBC) since it might be a treatment target and has been associated with endocrine resistance. A minimal-invasive way to determine AR expression on metastatic tumor cells is by characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Here, we assessed AR mRNA expression in CTCs (CTC-AR) and in matched primary tumor samples from mBC patients representing different breast cancer subtypes. In addition, we explored CTC-AR-status in relation to outcome on endocrine therapy. AR, and 92 AR or estrogen receptor (ER) related genes, were measured in CellSearch-enriched CTCs from 124 mBC patients and in 52 matched FFPE primary tissues using quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR. AR in CTCs was considered positive if the expression was 1 standard deviation higher than the expression measured in 11 healthy blood donors. A total of 31% of the mBC patients had AR-positive (AR+) CTCs. 58% of the matched CTC and primary tumor samples were discordant with respect to AR status, observing both switches from AR+ to AR-negative (AR-) and vice versa. There was no statistically significant difference in progression-free survival for patients treated with ER-targeting drugs and CTC-AR-status (13 AR+/ 37 AR- cases, p = 0.28). Thus, AR can be determined in RNA isolated from CTCs, with in our set 31% AR-positive samples. Given the discordance between AR status in CTC samples and corresponding primary tumors, determination of AR expression in CTCs might be a promising tool to select mBC patients for AR inhibiting agents.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Neoplasias da Mama
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Receptores Androgênicos
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Células Neoplásicas Circulantes
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Metástase Neoplásica
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Female
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Humans
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Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Cancer
Ano de publicação:
2019
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Holanda