ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of the ratio of AR and AR-V7 expression in prostate cancer treated by castration therapy.Methods Immunohistochemical staining was performed in biopsy specimen of 136 prostate cancer patients received hormone therapy in Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2010 to December 2015.Expression was determined using modified H score method.Patients aged from 53-96,the median age was 71,median tPSA value at diagnosed was 110.00 ng/ml(2.61-4 003.4 ng/ml),median fPSA value was 14.62 ng/ml(0.12-640.19 ng/ml),median PSA density was 1.15 ng/(ml · cm3) [0.02-62.63 ng/(ml · cm3)].Among these,88 (64.7％)patients were diagnosed Gleason score≥8,39(28.7％) patients with Gleason score 7,while 7 (6.6％) patients Gleason score ＜7.There were 54(39.7％) patients diagnosed T4 stage,57(41.9％)patients T3 stage and 25 (18.4％) patients Tx stage;62 (45.6％) patients were diagnosed N 1 stage,46 (33.8％) N0 stage and 28(20.6％) patients Nx stage;97(71.3％) patients were diagnosed M1 stage,30(22.1％) M0 stage,9 (6.6％) patients Mx stage.Cause-specific Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier Analysis were used to analyze the prognosis risk.Results The median follow-up time was 44 months,ranged 15-71 months.During the surveillance,the disease progression-free survival time ranged from 5-59 month,median 19 months.The overall survival time ranged from 12-61 months,median 31 months.Among these,79(58.1％) patients were AR positive and 26(19.1％) patients were AR-V7 positive,while AR and AR-V7 expression had no significant correlation (Spearman-test r =0.042,P =0.629).The AR-V7 positive patients showed significantly lower CRPC progression free survival (10.8 months vs.25.0 months,P ＜ 0.001) and much lower overall survival (20.3 months vs.42.8 months,P ＜ 0.001).The high AR-V7/AR expression ratio group showed significantly lower CRPC progression free survival (12.0 months vs.24.8 months,P ＜ 0.001) and much lower overall survival (22.5 months vs.42.8 months,P ＜ 0.001).In univariate Cox regression analyses,Gleason score at diagnosis,T stage,tPSA,PSA density and high AR-V7/AR expression ratio could predict the prognosis of hormonal therapy.While in multivariate Cox regression analyses,T stage(HR =2.597,95％ CI 1.351-4.995,P =0.004) and high AR-V7/AR expression ratio(HR =5.788,95％ CI 2.530-13.242,P ＜ 0.001) could effectively and independently predict the prognosis of hormonal therapy.Conclusion High AR-V7/AR HS ratio is the independent predictor of the prognosis of prostate cancer hormone therapy.AR-V7 positive and high AR-V7/AR HS ratio patients may have shorter PFS and overall survival time than AR-V7 negative and low AR-V7/AR HS ratio patients.