What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to assess the relationship between androgen receptor expression, T-lymphocyte infiltration, and overall survival in triple-negative breast cancer.

June 13, 2026Open Access

Androgen Receptor Expression and T-Lymphocyte Infiltration as Prognostic Indicators in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Study

Key Points

This study aims to assess the relationship between androgen receptor expression, T-lymphocyte infiltration, and overall survival in triple-negative breast cancer.
Retrospective analysis of 86 treatment-naïve women with TNBC treated from 2012 to 2019.
Immunohistochemical assessment of androgen receptor and CD4/CD8, with stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes scored following established guidelines.
Survival analyses focused on 3-year overall survival using multivariable Cox regression for non-metastatic disease.
23% of tumors exhibited high androgen receptor expression (≥10%).
High AR expression correlated with lower CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration and lower tumor grade.
No significant associations were found between AR or immune markers and 3-year overall survival due to low event numbers (10 deaths).

Abstract

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a biologically heterogeneous disease. Clinically accessible biomarkers remain limited. Objective: To evaluate androgen receptor (AR) expression and immune response—stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs), CD4+, CD8+, CD4/CD8 ratio—to explore their clinicopathological associations and relationships with 3-year overall survival (OS) in TNBC. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from 86 treatment-naïve women with TNBC who were treated between 2012 and 2019 at a single academic center. AR and CD4/CD8 were assessed immunohistochemically; sTILs were scored on H however, inference is limited by the low number of events (10 deaths). Conclusions: AR status was associated with the immune response, particularly with reduced CD8+ infiltration in AR-high tumors, supporting the concept of biologically distinct AR–immune phenotypes. The absence of statistically significant survival associations in adjusted analyses should be interpreted cautiously given the limited event counts, and larger prospective cohorts are needed to validate prognostic and potential therapeutic implications.

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