The Expression Of Androgen Receptor And Its Correlation With The Expression Of ER And PR In Endometrial Carcinoma

Objective:To study the expression of androgen receptor in endometrial carcinoma、normal endometrium and atypical hyperplasia endometrium, retrospectively analyze the clinicopathological characteristics in endometrial carcinoma with AR expression and the correlation among AR、ER and PR in endometrial carcinoma, then explore the role of androgen receptor played in the development of endometrial carcinoma and the biological behavior of endometrial carcinoma. And then supply the theory of the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for endometrial carcinoma.Method:116cases of endometrial cancer,41cases of normal endometrium (including21cases of proliferative endometria, and20cases of secretory endomtria) and18cases of atypical hyperplasia were obtained which were operated at the department of gynecology and obstetrics of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from January2003to December2007. All the cases were confirmed by pathologist and all the cases of endometrial cancer were imported cases without other treatment before the operation in our hospital. The expressions of AR in cases of endometrial cancer, normal endometrium and atypical hyperplasia endometrium was determined by immnohistechemisty under the optical microscope. We use the SPSS17.0statistics software to analyze the results.Positive versus negative immunostaining of AR in all samples was compared using the χ2tset.The correlation between AR expression and clinicopatholigic characteristrics of endometrial carcinoma was also investigated by using the χ2tset. The colleration of AR, ER and PR expression levels were assessed using Spearman rank correlation test. Survival curves were constructed and survival rate were compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis.Results:1. AR protein immunoreactivity was observed in all endometrial samples and the expression increased from normal endometrial to atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma (the positive rate were26.8%、38.9%、41.4%respectively), but there were no significant differences among the three groups(χ2=2.797, P=0.424)。2. The expression rate of AR was41.4%in endometrial cancer,while the positive rate decreased with increasing FIGO stage and histological grade and there were statistical differences(χ2=11.088, P=0.011;χ2,6.131, P=0.047), there were no statistical differences between AR expression and age, menopause, histopathological types, myometrial invasion, and lymph nodes metastasis (χ2=0.388, P=0.533; χ2=1.304, P=0.253;χ2=1.764, P=0.627;χ2=3.197, P=0.202; χ2=3.685, P=0.055).3.The expression of AR protion was correlated with that of ER and PR in endometrial carcinoma(r=0.293, P=0.001; r=0.275, P=0.003)。4. There were no statistical differences of the Survival curves and the prognosis between positive versus negative immunostaining of AR in endometrial carcinoma (χ2=0.487, P=0.485)Conclusions:1. There were expression of AR protein in all endometrial samples and the expression increased from normal endometrial to atypical hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma, it point out AR may play an important role in the development and progression of endometrial carcinoma.2. The expression rate of AR in endometrial cancer decreased with increasing FIGO stage and histological grade, and there were no statistical differences between AR expression and age, menopause, histopathological types, myometrial invasion, and lymph nodes metastasis. AR expression implies the biobehavior and the prognosis of endometrial carcinoma.3. The expression of AR protion was correlated with that of ER and PR in endometrial carcinoma. It is very beneficial to test the expression of AR, ER and PR which is in favour of understanding the sensibility of hormonotherapy and the guiding significance of assistant hormonotherapy of endometrial carcinoma in clinical work.