The Prostate
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Germline mutations in genes mediating DNA repair are common in men with recurrent and advanced prostate cancer, and their presence may alter prognosis and management. We aimed to define pathological and clinical characteristics associated with germline DNA-repair gene mutations, to facilitate selection of patients for germline testing. ⋯ Presence of intraductal/ductal histology and lymphovascular invasion appear to be associated with pathogenic germline DNA-repair gene mutations in men with prostate cancer, and identification of these features may help to select patients for germline testing. NCCN guidelines may be inadequate in predicting which prostate cancer patients should undergo genetic screening.
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To compare the antitumor effect of abiraterone (AA) followed by docetaxel-prednisone (DP) or vice versa in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients, and explored factors that might predict combined PSA-PFS, combined rPFS and OS. ⋯ In this study, we did not observe differences in clinical outcomes based on alternative sequencing of AA and DP in mCRPC patients. The ability to tolerate side effects and patient preference may be used to determine the treatment sequencing. In addition, high pretreatment SII level is a negative independent prognosticator of survival outcomes in mCRPC with sequential therapy using DP followed by AA or vice versa, which might guide clinicians select the best treatment.
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The ability to isolate extracellular vesicles (EVs) such as exosomes or microparticles is an important method that is currently not standardized. While commercially available kits offer purification of EVs from biofluids, such purified EV samples will also contain non-EV entities such as soluble protein and nucleic acids that could confound subsequent experimentation. Ideally, only EVs would be isolated and no soluble protein would be present in the final EV preparation. ⋯ While attractive due to their ease of use, EV purification kits do not provide substantial improvements in isolation of EVs from biofluids such as plasma. Immunoaffinity approaches are more efficient and economical and will also eliminate a significant portion of plasma proteins which is necessary for downstream approaches.
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Identification of cancer biomarkers that inform clinical decisions and reduce the use of ineffective therapies is a major goal of precision oncology. An abnormal splice variant of the androgen receptor, AR-V7, was recently found to confer resistance to novel hormonal therapies (abiraterone and enzalutamide) in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), but did not negatively affect responses to taxane chemotherapies, suggesting that early use of chemotherapy may be a more effective option for AR-V7(+) patients. ⋯ AR-V7 testing in mCRPC patients would be cost-beneficial when considering the current price of treatment, and may reduce the ineffective use of abiraterone/enzalutamide, leading to a significant net cost savings to the healthcare system. Clinical-grade AR-V7 testing is currently available at our institution. Prostate 76:1484-1490, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Prostate cancer (PCa) is androgen-dependent initially and progresses to a castration-resistant state after androgen deprivation therapy. Treatment options for castration-resistant PCa include the potent second-generation anti-androgen enzalutamide or CYP17A1 inhibitor abiraterone. Recent clinical observations point to the development of resistance to these therapies which may be mediated by constitutively active alternative splice variants of the androgen receptor (AR). ⋯ Our findings suggest that Lin28 plays a key role in the acquisition of resistance to AR-targeted therapies by PCa cells and establish the importance of Lin28 in PCa progression.