Lp. Pertschuk et al., IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL ASSAY FOR ANDROGEN RECEPTORS IN PROSTATE-CANCER - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF 63 CASES WITH LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP, Annals of surgical oncology, 1(6), 1994, pp. 495-503
Background: Numerous problems are associated with biochemical androgen
receptor (AR) assay performance and interpretation in prostatic cance
r. The purpose of this study was to determine if a novel immunocytoche
mical AR assay performed on intact tissue sections would prove useful
in prognosticating endocrine response and survival. Methods: A prospec
tive study was done on 63 prostatic carcinomas maintained in liquid ni
trogen for over a decade. The study used the peroxidase-antiperoxidase
system and a polyclonal anti-AR antibody. Results: Marked tissue and
cellular heterogeneity of nuclear AR was apparent. A cut-off of 10% AR
-positive cells maximized assay prognostic efficiency. Frequency of po
sitivity was 48% and correlated significantly with endocrine response
(p = 0.03), time to progression (p = 0.0016), and survival (p = 0.02),
but not with grade, stage, or ethnicity. Conclusions: This AR assay c
ould be prognostically useful in the clinical management of prostate c
ancer and is suitable far use in the community hospital laboratory.