Germline DNA damage repair (DDR) deficiency has been associated with increased cancer risk, poor prognosis and therapeutic opportunity for prostate cancer (PCa) patients. However, the landscape of ...germline mutations in PCa covering comprehensive DDR genes has not been reported. We performed whole‐exome sequencing in 246 patients who meet the National Cancer Center Network guidelines for genetic testing and analyzed variants in 276 DDR genes, which was from the Cancer Genome Atlas. A total of 79 deleterious germline alterations in 60 DDR genes were identified in 31% (76/246) patients. Mutations were found in nine DDR pathways, including 11.8% men in homologous recombination repair (HR) pathways, 2.4% men in mismatch repair (MMR) pathway and 16.7% (41/246) patients in non‐HR/MMR pathways. In HRR and MMR pathways, mutations were mostly identified in BRCA2 (5.3%), HFM1 (0.8%), ZSWIM7 (0.8%), MSH2 (0.8%) and MSH3 (0.8%). When compared with the cancer‐free cohort, POLN and POLG conferred high risk to PCa with odds ratio 6.9 and 20.5, respectively. We provided a comprehensive view of germline DDR gene mutations in PCa patients. We also identified two potential PCa predisposition genes: POLN and POLG, which have not been reported in the Western population, confirming the necessity of customizing a multigene panel for Chinese PCa patients.
What's new?
Germline DNA damage repair (DDR) deficiency is associated with increased cancer risk and poor prognosis inprostate cancer. However, a comprehensive view of DNA DDR germline gene mutations has not been reported. Through sequencing germline DNA from 246 Chinese prostate cancer patients, here the authors identified 79 pathogenic variants in 60 genes involved in nine DNA repair pathways. Almost a third of patients carried germline pathogenic DDR gene mutations—40% of them in homologous recombination or mismatch repair genes and 60%in other DNA repair pathways. The findings indicate the potential benefit of developing new drugs targeting other DDR pathways.
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common and highly malignant pathological type of kidney cancer. We sought to establish a metabolic signature to improve post‐operative risk ...stratification and identify novel targets in the prediction models for ccRCC patients. A total of 58 metabolic differential expressed genes (MDEGs) were identified with significant prognostic value. LASSO regression analysis constructed 20‐mRNA signatures models, metabolic prediction models (MPMs), in ccRCC patients from two cohorts. Risk score of MPMs significantly predicts prognosis for ccRCC patients in TCGA (P < 0.001, HR = 3.131, AUC = 0.768) and CPTAC cohorts (P = 0.046, HR = 2.893, AUC = 0.777). In addition, G6PC, a hub gene in PPI network of MPMs, shows significantly prognostic value in 718 ccRCC patients from multiply cohorts. Next, G6Pase was detected high expressed in normal kidney tissues than ccRCC tissues. It suggested that low G6Pase expression significantly correlated with poor prognosis (P < 0.0001, HR = 0.316) and aggressive progression (P < 0.0001, HR = 0.414) in 322 ccRCC patients from FUSCC cohort. Meanwhile, promoter methylation level of G6PC was significantly higher in ccRCC samples with aggressive progression status. G6PC significantly participates in abnormal immune infiltration of ccRCC microenvironment, showing significantly negative association with check‐point immune signatures, dendritic cells, Th1 cells, etc. In conclusion, this study first provided the opportunity to comprehensively elucidate the prognostic MDEGs landscape, established novel prognostic model MPMs using large‐scale ccRCC transcriptome data and identified G6PC as potential prognostic target in 1,040 ccRCC patients from multiply cohorts. These finding could assist in managing risk assessment and shed valuable insights into treatment strategies of ccRCC.
Objectives
To evaluate recurrence after penile‐sparing surgery (PSS) in the management of carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the penis in a large multicentre cohort of patients.
Patients and Methods
We ...identified consecutive patients from five major academic centres, treated between June 1986 and November 2014, who underwent PSS for pathologically proven penile CIS. The primary outcome was local recurrence‐free survival (RFS), which was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method.
Results
A total of 205 patients were identified. Treatment methods included circumcision, glansectomy, wide local excision, laser therapy and total glans resurfacing. Over a median (interquartile range IQR) follow‐up of 40 (26–65.6) months, there were 48 local recurrences, with 45.8% occurring in the first year and 81.3% occurring by year 5. The majority of recurrences were observed in the laser group (58.3%). The median (IQR) time to local recurrence was 15.9 (5.66–26.14) months. The 1‐ 2‐ and 5‐year RFS rates were 88.4, 85.6 and 75%, respectively, and the median (IQR) RFS time was 106.5 (80.2–132.2) months.
Conclusions
Among patients with penile CIS selected for surgical management, durable responses at intermediate‐ to long‐term follow‐up were noted. For those with glandular CIS, glans resurfacing offered the best outcomes.
The rarities of primary neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) and primary adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (NE differentiation) mean that their clinical characteristics have not ...been fully elucidated.
A total of 449 patients with NEPC, including 352 cases of pure NEPC and 97 cases of NE differentiation, together with 408 629 cases of prostate adenocarcinoma at diagnosis were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program (2010-2015). Clinical parameters and prognoses were compared between patients with different histological types of NEPC using the χ
test and Kaplan-Meier analysis, respectively. The prognostic value of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in NEPC and adenocarcinoma was evaluated using Cox regression and the Kaplan-Meier method.
Pure NEPC had higher rates of visceral metastases (brain, lung, and liver: 4.58%, 26.72%, and 36.64%, respectively) but a lower rate of bone metastasis (65.65%) compared with NE differentiation and prostate adenocarcinoma. Moreover, patients diagnosed with pure NEPC had a poorer outcome (median survival time: 10 months) compared with patients with NE differentiation (26 months) and prostate adenocarcinoma (median survival time not reached). Using PSA 4.1 to 10 ng/mL as the reference, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for PSA lower than or equal to 4.0 ng/mL were 2.24 (95% confidence interval CI: 1.11-4.55, P = .025) in the NE differentiation group and 1.57 (95% CI: 1.11-2.23, P = .011) in the pure NEPC group.
Patients with NE differentiation had different clinical characteristics and a better prognosis than patients with pure NEPC. In addition, low-serum PSA levels were associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with either NEPC or NE differentiation.
Objective
The Asia Pacific Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APAC APCCC 2018) brought together 20 experts from 15 APAC countries to discuss the real‐world application of consensus ...statements from the second APCCC held in St Gallen in 2017 (APCCC 2017).
Findings
Differences in genetics, environment, lifestyle, diet and culture are all likely to influence the management of advanced prostate cancer in the APAC region when compared with the rest of the world. When considering the strong APCCC 2017 recommendation for the use of upfront docetaxel in metastatic castration‐naïve prostate cancer, the panel noted possible increased toxicity in Asian men receiving docetaxel, which would affect this recommendation in the APAC region. Although androgen receptor‐targeting agents appear to be well tolerated in Asian men with metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer, access to these drugs is very limited for financial reasons across the region. The meeting highlighted that cost and access to contemporary treatments and technologies are key factors influencing therapeutic decision‐making in the APAC region. Whilst lower cost/older treatments and technologies may be an option, issues of culture and patient or physician preference mean, these may not always be acceptable. Although generic products can reduce cost in some countries, costs may still be prohibitive for lower‐income patients or communities. The panellists noted the opportunity for a coordinated approach across the APAC region to address issues of access and cost. Developments in technologies and treatments are presenting new opportunities for the diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Differences in genetics and epidemiology affect the side‐effect profiles of some drugs and influence prescribing.
Conclusions
As the field continues to evolve, collaboration across the APAC region will be important to facilitate relevant research and collection and appraisal of data relevant to APAC populations. In the meantime, the APAC APCCC 2018 meeting highlighted the critical importance of a multidisciplinary team‐based approach to treatment planning and care, delivery of best‐practice care by clinicians with appropriate expertise, and the importance of patient information and support for informed patient choice.
Accumulating evidence suggested that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) possess a potential role in prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis and prognosis. Rapid biochemical recurrence (BCR) is considered as a ...sign for clinical recurrence metastasis and PCa-specific mortality. Hence, the aim of the present study was to identify a lncRNA signature that can predict BCR of PCa accurately. Bioinformatics analysis, Kaplan-Meier analyses, Cox regression analyses, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were performed in a publicly available database with 499 PCa tissues and 52 matched normal tissues. A signature was identified. All these lncRNAs were differentially expressed between tumor and normal tissues and differentially expressed between high Gleason score and low Gleason score tissues. Furthermore, we developed a seven lncRNAs signature that can predict PCa BCR. Patients classified into low-risk group showed better BCR survival significantly than the patients in the high-risk group (hazard ratio = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.20-0.52, concordance index = 0.63). The area under the curve was 0.68 for BCR. The signature also had good discrimination for BCR in men with Gleason 7 PCa. In conclusion, our results suggest that the seven lncRNAs signature is a new biomarker of BCR and high risk in PCa. In addition, the individual lncRNA warrants further study to uncover the associated mechanisms of PCa progression and the signature could be used to design direct clinical trials for adjuvant therapy.
Kidney, bladder, and prostate cancer are the three major tumor types of the urologic system that seriously threaten human health. Circular RNAs (CircRNAs), special non-coding RNAs with a stabile ...structure and a unique back-splicing loop-forming ability, have received recent scientific attention. CircRNAs are widely distributed within the body, with important biologic functions such as sponges for microRNAs, as RNA binding proteins, and as templates for regulation of transcription and protein translation. The abnormal expression of circRNAs in vivo is significantly associated with the development of urologic tumors. CircRNAs have now emerged as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of urologic tumors, as well as targets for the development of new therapies. Although we have gained a better understanding of circRNA, there are still many questions to be answered. In this review, we summarize the properties of circRNAs and detail their function, focusing on the effects of circRNA on proliferation, metastasis, apoptosis, metabolism, and drug resistance in kidney, bladder, and prostate cancers.
Objectives
To identify biomarkers that predict the response to standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) of patients newly diagnosed with metastatic castration‐sensitive prostate cancer (CSPC) in ...order to improve therapeutic decision‐making, and to investigate whether the characterization of baseline circulating tumour cells (CTCs) would predict the effective period of standard ADT.
Materials and Methods
The study included 108 patients newly diagnosed with high‐volume metastatic CSPC. Enumeration and characterization of patients’ baseline CTCs (CTCs+ and CTCs−, indicating detectable and undetectable CTCs, respectively) were performed using the CanPatrol technique, which detects markers of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in CTCs, and classifies CTCs into epithelial, biophenotypic and mesenchymal phenotypes.
Results
After a median follow‐up of 24 months, 90 patients (83.3%) progressed to castration‐resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), 93 patients (86.1%) had detectable CTCs, and the median number of CTCs was 4. The rate of progression to CRPC was significantly higher for patients with mesenchymal CTCs+ than for patients with CTCs+/mesenchymal CTCs− and CTCs− (93.1% vs 71.4% and 73.3%; P = 0.013). The median time to CRPC for patients with mesenchymal CTCs+ was significantly shorter than for those with CTCs+/mesenchymal CTCs− and CTCs− (10.5 months vs 18.0 and 14.0 months; P = 0.003). Multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that the CTC phenotype was the only independent prognostic factor influencing the progression of disease from CSPC to CRPC.
Conclusions
Characterization of baseline CTCs according to the EMT phenotype predicted the effective period of standard ADT for patients newly diagnosed with metastatic CSPC. These findings are important for counselling patients and designing clinical trials.
This study aims to construct a robust prognostic model for adult adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) by large‐scale multiomics analysis and real‐world data. The RPPA data, gene expression profiles and ...clinical information of adult ACC patients were obtained from The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Integrated prognosis‐related proteins (IPRPs) model was constructed. Immunohistochemistry was used to validate the prognostic value of the IPRPs model in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) cohort. 76 ACC cases from TCGA and 22 ACC cases from GSE10927 in NCBI’s GEO database with full data for clinical information and gene expression were utilized to validate the effectiveness of the IPRPs model. Higher FASN (P = .039), FIBRONECTIN (P < .001), TFRC (P < .001), TSC1 (P < .001) expression indicated significantly worse overall survival for adult ACC patients. Risk assessment suggested significantly a strong predictive capacity of IPRPs model for poor overall survival (P < .05). IPRPs model showed a little stronger ability for predicting prognosis than Ki‐67 protein in FUSCC cohort (P = .003, HR = 3.947; P = .005, HR = 3.787). In external validation of IPRPs model using gene expression data, IPRPs model showed strong ability for predicting prognosis in TCGA cohort (P = .005, HR = 3.061) and it exhibited best ability for predicting prognosis in GSE10927 cohort (P = .0898, HR = 2.318). This research constructed IPRPs model for predicting adult ACC patients’ prognosis using proteomic data, gene expression data and real‐world data and this prognostic model showed stronger predictive value than other biomarkers (Ki‐67, Beta‐catenin, etc) in multi‐cohorts.
Bladder cancer (BLCA) is one of the most common urological cancer with increasing cases and deaths every year. In the present study, we aim to construct an immune‐related prognostic lncRNA signature ...(IRPLS) in bladder cancer (BLCA) patients and explore its immunogenomic implications in pan‐cancers. First, the immune‐related differentially expressed lncRNAs (IRDELs) were identified by ‘limma’ R package and the score of IRPLS in every patient were evaluated by Cox regression. The dysregulation of IRDELs expression between cancer and para‐cancer normal tissues was validated through RT‐qPCR. Then, we further explore the biological functions of a novel lncRNA from IRPLS, RP11‐89 in BLCA using CCK8 assay, Transwell assay and Apoptosis analysis, which indicated that RP11‐89 was able to promote cell proliferation and invasive capacity while inhibits cell apoptosis in BLCA. In addition, we performed bioinformatic methods and RIP to investigate and validate the RP11‐89/miR‐27a‐3p/PPARγ pathway in order to explore the mechanism. Next, CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithm were used to evaluate abundance of tumour‐infiltrating immune cells and scores of tumour environment elements in BLCA with different level of IRPLS risk scores. Finally, multiple bioinformatic methods were performed to show us the immune landscape of these four lncRNAs for pan‐cancers. In conclusion, this study first constructed an immune‐related prognostic lncRNA signature, which consists of RP11‐89, PSORS1C3, LINC02672 and MIR100HG and might shed lights on novel targets for individualized immunotherapy for BLCA patients.