Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) as a marker of ovarian reserve and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) in children and women with cancer: A systematic review.
Authors: David A. Cameron, Richard Anderson, Florian Clatot, Isabelle Demeestere, Matteo Lambertini, Scott M Nelson, Fedro Peccatori
Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology (2021)

e24057 Background: Female patients undergoing anticancer treatment are at elevated risk of ovarian damage including development of POI. AMH is a key serum biomarker of ovarian reserve. However, its role to identify risk of POI in cancer patients prior to and after treatment is less well understood. Methods: A systematic literature search for AMH in women with cancer was conducted up to 30 August 2020, with formal bias assessment. We aimed at evaluating AMH as a biomarker of ovarian reserve and POI before and after anticancer treatment. Exploratory subgroups were based on age, cancer type and length of follow-up. Results: : Eighty publications (including 7,708 patients) were included in this analysis. All papers reporting AMH before and after treatment reported a large reduction in AMH following treatment, in both adult and paediatric populations. Effect sizes varied depending on the treatment and diagnosis, but ranged from 42% to below the limit of detection, and many reported declines of ≥90%. A majority (25/34, 74%) of studies also reported at least partial recovery of AMH at follow-up. Pre-treatment AMH correlated with post-treatment levels in all studies and younger patient age with higher post-treatment AMH in 21/29 (72%) studies. In 18/32 (58%) publications, oligo/amenorrhea correlated with lower post-treatment AMH. No studies reported correlations between post-treatment AMH and pregnancy, although pregnancy was reported in some patients with low or undetectable AMH. 70% of publications found that within-study variations in treatment (estimated by chemotherapy or radiotherapy type, dosage, duration and/or number of cycles) correlated with AMH reductions and degree of recovery, indicating its potential value as a marker of gonadotoxicity. In women with breast cancer, recovery of AMH was reported in some patients in 10/18 publications; however, AMH levels showed no recovery in many patients receiving alkylating agents or cyclophosphamide-based chemotherapies. In lymphoma, patients receiving ABVD-based regimens had at least partial post-treatment recovery of AMH at follow-up compared with those receiving cyclophosphamide-containing regimens. 16/20 (80%) publications in pediatric cancer patients showed significant reductions in AMH compared with pre-treatment levels or controls. The diagnostic value of post-treatment AMH for POI was supported in 5/5 (100%) studies. AMH levels measured 1–2 years after treatment appeared to be equally reliable at indicating longer-term menstrual outcomes as studies with longer followup. Conclusions: AMH levels were strongly impacted by anticancer treatment, with recovery in some women determined by treatment regimen, age, and pretreatment AMH level. There was evidence for its role in diagnosis of POI, nut further studies are required to clarify its value to assist in patient management.