Many studies suggest that hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC) is an androgen-dependent tumor with
an incidence five times higher in males, but few data are
available on the androgen receptor (AR) mRNA levels in
different physiological classes of human liver specimens.
In this study 108 human hepatic samples have been
analyzed for AR mRNA expression by a comparative
RT-PCR assay. These consisted of 35 non-tumoral
hepatic samples (3 normal parenchymas, 4 steatosis, 10
hepatitis, 18 cirrhosis), 38 tumoral specimens derived
from uninodular and multinodular HCCs and 35
peritumoral hepatic tissues.
Normalized AR mRNA levels in tumoral and
peritumoral liver tissues spanned from 0 to 146% and
from 7 to 125% respectively. Only in a relatively small
percentage of HCCs, the levels of expression of AR
mRNA were higher than in the corresponding
peritumoral tissues (16% of total HCCs). Although
extremely variable, the AR mRNA levels were related to
histological tumoral differentiation and proved to be
lower in the highly dedifferentiated HCCs as compared
to the well differentiated ones.
Therefore, the evaluation of AR expression in HCC
patients might be relevant for the planning of clinical
studies on anti-androgen therapies, which might be
useful only in the cases in which a high level of AR
mRNA is detected, considering the high heterogeneity of
AR mRNA levels which characterizes HCC samples. It
is likely that the HCCs, expressing low or undetectable levels of AR mRNA, would not benefit by the antiandrogen
therapy