Androgen Receptor Biology in Triple Negative Breast Cancer: a Case for Classification as AR+ or Quadruple Negative Disease
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Studying Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model
Published on: March 20, 2020
Valerie N Barton1, Nicholas C D'Amato1, Michael A Gordon1
1Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora CO, RC1 North P18-5127 Mail Stop 8104, 12800 E. 19th Ave, Aurora, CO, 80015, USA.
Abstract:
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype that lacks estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) amplification. Due to the absence of these receptors, TNBC does not respond to traditional endocrine or HER2-targeted therapies that improve patient prognosis in other breast cancer subtypes. TNBC has a poor prognosis, and currently, there are no effective targeted therapies. Some TNBC tumors express androgen receptor (AR) and may benefit from AR-targeted therapies. Here, we review the literature on AR in TNBC and propose that TNBC be further sub-classified as either AR+ TNBC or quadruple negative breast cancer since targeting AR may represent a viable therapeutic option for a subset of TNBC.
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