Androgen and vitamin D receptor expression in archival human breast tumors.
BACKGROUND
The present study was undertaken for quantitation of androgen (AR) and vitamin D (VDR) receptor expression in human male and female breast tumors by flow cytometry.


METHODS
Nuclei isolated from sections of paraffin-embedded tumors by pepsin digestion were treated for antigen unmasking and incubated with antibodies to AR and VDR. Flow cytometric analysis was used to determine the percentage of receptor-positive nuclei with fluorescence greater than 95% of the isotype nuclei. Mean log fluorescence channel values were used for comparing antigen density of the isotype and the antibody-treated nuclei.


RESULTS
Six of 23 female breast tumors had aneuploid DNA content. Nineteen of 20 estrogen receptor-positive female tumors by immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) were also AR positive by flow analysis. Aneuploid subpopulations had higher percentages of AR-positive nuclei than did diploid populations. Eight of 33 male breast tumors had aneuploid DNA content. Twenty-three of 33 male breast tumors were AR positive by flow analysis compared with six that were AR positive by IHC. Six AR-positive (IHC) male tumors were also AR positive by flow analysis. VDR expression was higher in diploid female tumors than in aneuploid tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
Lack of a strong correlation between IHC and flow analysis may be due to differences in criteria used for identification of receptor-positive and -negative tumors by the two methods.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33101, USA. akrishan@med.miami.edu
Awtar
A
Krishan
Poonam
P
Arya
Parvin
P
Ganjei-Azar
Suzanne E
SE
Shirley
Carlos T
CT
Escoffery
Mehrdad
M
Nadji
D000782:Aneuploidy; D001109:Archives; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004171:Diploidy; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000378:metabolism*; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000378:metabolism*; D014015:Tissue Banks
D011944:Receptors, Androgen; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol