Combined profile of the tandem repeats CAG, TA and CA of the androgen and estrogen receptor genes in breast cancer.

Purpose: Case-control studies have reported inconsistent results concerning the association between polymorphisms in the androgen and estrogen receptor (ER) genes and breast cancer. While several studies investigated the association between the androgen receptor (AR) gene, CAG repeat and breast cancer, for the CA and TA repeats in the ER genes there are considerably fewer studies (one for CA and none for TA).

Methods: We have investigated the potential link between three tandem repeats (CAG, TA, and CA) in the AR, ERs alpha and beta genes, respectively, and breast cancer.