ABSTRACT
Marital status is an independent prognostic factor for survival in several types of cancer, but has not been fully studied in prostate cancer (PCa). A total of 95,846 men diagnosed with PCa were treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) between 2004 and 2009 within 18 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registries. Survival curves were generated using Kaplan-Meier estimates and differences in survival were assessed using the log-rank test. Cox regression models were used to assess the impact of marital status on survival outcomes. The results demonstrated that the 8-year cancer-cause specific survival (CSS) rate of married men was higher than unmarried individuals. Further analyses revealed that divorced/separated men had a higher proportion of high Gleason scores (GS) PCa at diagnosis [hazard ratio (HR), 1.12; P=0.007] and those patients had the worst survival outcomes independent of age, ethnicity, grade, stage and sequence number [HR, 1.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.34-1.93]. Interestingly, it was observed that CSS among divorced/separated men decreased as the GS increased (GS≤6: HR, 2.5; GS=7: HR, 1.71; GS≥8: HR, 1.50; all P<0.05). Apart from that, no significant differences in CSS were observed in those who had never been married (HR, 1.20) or were widowed (HR, 1.13) relative to the married group. The results of the present study support the hypothesis that marital status is an independent prognostic factor among men with PCa who underwent RP. It was demonstrated that the mortality rates of divorced or separated men with PCa were significantly greater compared with the other groups. A further understanding of the potential associations among marital status, psychosocial factors and survival outcomes may help in developing novel, more effective methods of treating different groups of patients with PCa.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSES: Growing evidences showed that lncRNAs abnormally expressed in cancer tissues and played irreplaceable roles in tumorigenesis, progression and metastasis. In present study, we aimed to identify lncRNA expression signature that can predict biochemical recurrence-free (BCR-free) survival of prostate cancer (PCa) patients. METHODS: A total of 291 patients with pathologic confirmed PCa in The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset were recruited and included. With the specific risk score formula, patients were further classified into high-risk group and low-risk group. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses and Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the association between lncRNA signature and survival outcomes. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was carried out to identify the potentially associated biological processes and signaling pathway. RESULTS: Overall, 126 differentially expressed lncRNAs were found with more than twofold changes and p value of FDR <0.01. Among which, four lncRNAs were identified to be significantly associated with BCR-free survival. Then, using a risk score based on the signature of these four lncRNAs, we divided the patients into low-risk and high-risk groups with significantly different BCR-free survival and disease-free survival. Further multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that the four-lncRNA signature was independent of age, AJCC T stage, lymphonodus status, Gleason score, margin and adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy. GSEA suggested that this signature was involved in cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: In present study, a novel four-lncRNA signature that is useful in survival prediction in PCa patients was developed. If validated, this lncRNA signature might assist in selecting high-risk subpopulation who need more aggressive therapeutic intervention. The clinical implications and the mechanism of these four lncRNAs deserve further investigation in future studies.
