A.Y. Krylov*, Y.V. Krylov**
Androgens and breast cancer (literature review)
*State Educational Establishment «Institute of Professional Development and Further Training of Staff of State Committee of Forensic Expert Examinations of the Republic of Belarus», Minsk, Republic of Belarus
**Public Health Establishment «Vitebsk Regional Clinical Pathoanatomical Bureau», Vitebsk, Republic of Belarus
Abstract.
In this review physiological properties of androgens, the characteristic of androgens receptors (AR), data on the level of androgens in biological fluids in breast cancer (BC) and the results of immunohistochemical (IHC) researches of AR expression in various biological subtypes of BC are presented. Up to this date there is no common opinion about the role of the level of androgens and their metabolites in biological fluids samples in the development of BC. At the same time, the availability of some publications about the difficulties in determining androgens, their precursors and metabolites in biological fluids testifies to the necessity to investigate the presence of АR in the cells of BC by means of molecular and biological methods, including IHC one. Recent publications about AR are devoted to their IHC revealing in BC, prognostic role in its development and prognosis. A hypothesis, that androgens are directly involved in BC cancerogenesis, is based on the presence of AR in the majority of breast carcinomas. Immunohistochemical data indicate, that a significant amount of poorly differentiated breast carcinomas are estrogen and progesterone negative, but АR positive. The researches concerning the prognostic value of AR positive expression are rather inconsistent, however, the opinion prevails, that female patients with tumours positive to АR, are characterised by the best, practically recurrence-free survival. In clinical view the elaborations of АR- targeted therapy are of the greatest interest. It emphasizes the necessity of further AR studying in various biological subtypes of BC and especially in triple negative breast cancer (ТNBC).
Key words: androgens, androgens receptors, breast cancer, immunohistochemical.
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