IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF STEROID-HORMONE RECEPTORS IN NASOPHARYNGEAL ANGIOFIBROMAS

Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma arises almost exclusively in pube rtal and adolescent men and has potentially aggressive behavior with a spread into adjoining sinuses and bone destruction. It is classically being regarded as an androgen hormone-dependent tumor, but no in situ evaluation of androgen receptors has been done. The author has examin ed eight nasopharyngeal angiofibromas (six primary and two recurrent t umors) for the expression of androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) using immunohistochemical methods and compared those results with a sex- and age-matched control group consisting of eight samples of nasal turbinates. No ER or PR were foun d in any of the tumor components, nor have they been detected in contr ol nasal turbinates. Angiofibromas were characterized by variable weak (+) nuclear androgen receptor immunoreactivity found in a minority of endothelial and stromal cells, similar to the normal turbinates. Thes e results argue against the significant role of androgen receptor in t he growth of nasal angiofibromas and corroborate previous observations of an unpredictable response of these neoplasms to antiandrogen thera py. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.