The predictive role of E-cadherin and androgen receptor on in vitro chemosensitivity in triple-negative breast cancer

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of various pathologic and biologic factors in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) on chemotherapy response using in vitro ATP-based chemotherapy response assay (ATP-CRA). Methods: Forty-seven cases of TNBC were included. Immunohistochemical stains for androgen receptor (AR), p53, CD10, c-kit, CK5/6, vimentin, bcl-2, E-cadherin, Ki-67 and epidermal growth factor receptor were performed. In vitro ATP-CRA was used to analyze chemosensitivity for 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), docetaxel, doxorubicin, epirubicin, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, methotrexate (MTX), oxaliplatin and paclitaxel. Results: The results showed that all cytotoxic agents demonstrated the trend that E-cadherin-expressing cases had a higher cell death rate than E-cadherin-negative cases. Particularly, vinorelbine showed statistical significance (P = 0.004). Cases with AR expression showed higher cell death rates than those without in 5-FU and MTX (P = 0.012 and 0.014, respectively). Conclusions: E-cadherin and AR could be candidate predictive factors for chemotherapy response in TNBC. Further in vivo study is required to clarify their roles.