Abstract 4965: Analytic validation and clinical qualification of a novel immunohistochemical assay for AR-V7 protein expression in metastatic prostate cancer
Authors: Nava Rodrigues Daniel , Welti Jon , Sharp Adam , Sun Shihua , Riisnaes Ruth , Figueiredo Ines , Zafeiriou Zafeiris , Rescigno Pasquale , de Bono Johann S. , Plymate Stephen R. 
Published: July 2016

BACKGROUND:

The androgen-receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) has been implicated in the development of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and resistance to current therapies including enzalutamide and abiraterone. AR-V7 mRNA expression in circulating tumour cells of patients with CRPC correlated with treatment resistance. However, the importance of AR-V7 has been questioned in light of low AR-V7 mRNA levels relative to the full-length androgen receptor in CRPC and it is critically important to develop validated assays that confirm AR-V7 protein levels and its clinical importance in patients with CRPC.

METHODS:

Following validation of a monoclonal antibody, immunohistochemical analysis of nuclear AR-V7 (alongside a nuclear AR N-terminal domain antibody; AR-NTD) was performed in a patient cohort identified with matched therapy-naive hormone-sensitive primary prostate cancer (HSPC) and CRPC. We determined the levels of nuclear AR-V7 as patients progressed from HSPC to CRPC. We also determined if AR-V7 expression levels associated with overall survival from time of CRPC biopsy.

RESULTS:

In our patient cohort (n = 39), nuclear AR-V7 (p = &lt;0.0001) and nuclear AR-NTD (p = 0.0006) increased significantly as patients progressed from HSPC to CRPC. Lower nuclear AR-V7 expression was associated with improved overall survival from time of CRPC biopsy in patient groups divided by the 25th (18.7 vs 9.6 months; HR 0.36 [95% CI 0.17-0.62]; p = 0.002), 50th (13.0 vs 9.8 months; HR 0.60 [95% CI 0.29-1.07]; p = 0.09) or 75th (6.0 vs 11.5 months; HR 0.31 [95% CI 0.04-0.34]; p = 0.0004) percentile of AR-V7 expression. Similarly, a lower nuclear AR-V7 to nuclear AR-NTD ratio was associated with improved overall survival from time of CRPC biopsy in patient groups divided by the 25th (17.8 vs 9.1 months; HR 0.42 [95% CI 0.22-0.78], p = 0.01), 50th (14.0 vs 8.8 months; HR 0.43 [95% CI 0.17-0.69], p = 0.005) and 75th (11.5 vs 7.3 months; HR 0.39 [95% CI 0.09-0.69], p = 0.009) percentile. Nuclear AR-NTD did not associate with overall survival from CRPC biopsy.

CONCLUSION:

We provide first evidence that expression of nuclear AR-V7 protein not only increases with emerging treatment resistance in CRPC but also is associated with overall survival from time of CRPC biopsy. These data support AR-V7 protein being key to CRPC progression and that agents targeting AR splice variants will be important to improve patient outcome in CRPC.

Citation Format: Daniel Nava Rodrigues, Jon Welti, Adam Sharp, Shihua Sun, Ruth Riisnaes, Ines Figueiredo, Zafeiris Zafeiriou, Pasquale Rescigno, Johann S. de Bono, Stephen R. Plymate. Analytic validation and clinical qualification of a novel immunohistochemical assay for AR-V7 protein expression in metastatic prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4965.