The prognostic value and immune microenvironment association of AR in HER2+ nonmetastatic breast cancer

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of AR in HER2+ nonmetastatic breast invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and its relationship with the immune microenvironment. HER2+ nonmetastatic breast IDC patients diagnosed by pathology who underwent surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from 2016 to 2017 were included. AR+ and AR− breast IDC samples were matched 1:1 in age, T stage, and N stage for immune infiltration analysis. A total of 554 patients with HER2+ nonmetastatic breast cancer were included in this retrospective study, regardless of HR status. The cut-off value for AR was set at 10%. ER+ (p < 0.001) and PR+ (p < 0.001) were associated with positive AR expression. Kaplan–Meier survival curve analysis suggested that AR was closely correlated with overall survival (OS) (p = 0.001) but not disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.051). After eliminating the potential impact caused by HR, AR also predicted longer OS (p = 0.014) and was an independent predictive factor for OS of HER2+HR− nonmetastatic breast IDC patients, as revealed by multivariate analysis (p = 0.036). For AR+ and AR− matched HER2+HR− patients, TILs (p = 0.043) and PD-L1 (p = 0.027) levels were significantly lower in AR+ patients. The strongest negative correlation was observed between AR and PD-L1 (Pearson’s r = −0.299, p = 0.001). AR+ status was markedly related to better OS in HER2+HR− nonmetastatic breast cancer patients, while a negative correlation was observed between AR and PD-L1/TILs. We provide new insights into the prognostic value of AR and its association with the immune microenvironment to optimize treatment strategies in HER2+ nonmetastatic breast IDCs.