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19–22 APRIL, 2017, BARCELONA, SPAIN
08:51–08:54
S14-4 (PP)
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ANDROGEN RECEPTORS EXPRESSION AND DARTOS
TISSUE ARCHITECTURE ARE ABNORMAL IN CONGENITAL
PENILE MALFORMATIONS, COMPARED TO HEALTY
CHILDREN: ANALYSIS OF A PROSPECTIVE SERIES
Anne-Françoise SPINOIT
1
, Sarah BUELENS
1
, Marleen PRAET
2
, Erik VAN LAECKE
1
and Piet HOEBEKE
1
1) Ghent University Hospital, Urology, Ghent, BELGIUM - 2) Ghent University Hospital, Pathology, Ghent, BELGIUM
PURPOSE
Although recent studies showed that congenital penile malformation (CPM) is associated with dar-
tos tissue (DT) structural anomalies, pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. The relation
between androgen receptor (AR) expression, DT structure and CPM was here analyzed.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Foreskin tissue samples from children undergoing primary penile surgery (PPS) for CPM (hypo-
spadias, epispadias, buried penis) were prospectively collected since November 2011, with tissue
samples from children undergoing circumcision for non-medical reasons as control group.
Samples were initially stained with smooth-muscle actin and AR antibodies (ARa) were subse-
quently applied from 2013 on. Samples were analyzed by the same pathologist who was blinded for
the indication for surgery. This analysis of the database concerns only samples processed between
2013 and 2016, investigating AR expression in CPM. ARa staining was classified into 3 categories:
absence of staining of all smooth muscle cells, weak staining of scarce smooth muscle cells, or
strongly positive staining. Statistics were performed using SPSS 23.0
RESULTS
A total of 494 children were included, ARa were applied on foreskin samples of 210 of them. Reason
for surgery was CPM in 107, and circumcision in 103 (control group). Median age at surgery was
21 months [4-185]. Strongly positive staining was observed in 19.4% (n=20) of the controls, and
5.6% (n=6) of the CPM, weakly positive staining in 17.5% (n=18) of the controls and 4.7% (n=5) of
CPM, and negative staining in[sb1] 63.1% (n=65) of controls and 89.7% (n=96) of CPM (p<0.001).
Organization of DT improved with increasing AR expression (p<0.001). Higher age at PPS cor-
responded with higher AR expression in controls (p=0.002) in contrary to CPM (p=0.85).
CONCLUSIONS
CPM is associated with significantly lower AR expression (p<0.001) and with significantly DT
architecture disorganization (p<0.001) compared to controls. AR expression increases with age in
controls, which is not observed in CPM (p=0.002).
08:54–09:06
Discussion