Prognostic utility of the cell cycle progression score generated from biopsy in men treated with prostatectomy

PURPOSE: The cell cycle progression score is associated with prostate cancer outcomes in various clinical settings. However, previous studies of men treated with radical prostatectomy evaluated cell cycle progression scores generated from resected tumor tissue. We evaluated the prognostic usefulness of the score derived from biopsy specimens in men treated with radical prostatectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated the cell cycle progression score in cohorts of patients from the Martini Clinic (283), Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (176) and Intermountain Healthcare (123). The score was derived from simulated biopsy (Martini Clinic) or diagnostic biopsy (Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Intermountain Healthcare) and evaluated for an association with biochemical recurrence and metastatic disease.

RESULTS: In all 3 cohorts the cell cycle progression score was associated with biochemical recurrence and metastatic disease. The association with biochemical recurrence remained significant after adjusting for other prognostic clinical variables. On combined analysis of all cohorts (total 582 patients) the score was a strong predictor of biochemical recurrence on univariate analysis (HR per score unit 1.60, 95% CI 1.35-1.90, p = 2.4 × 10(-7)) and multivariate analysis (HR per score unit 1.47, 95% CI 1.23-1.76, p = 4.7 × 10(-5)). Although there were few events (12), the cell cycle progression score was the strongest predictor of metastatic disease on univariate analysis (HR per score unit 5.35, 95% CI 2.89-9.92, p = 2.1 × 10(-8)) and after adjusting for clinical variables (HR per score unit 4.19, 95% CI 2.08-8.45, p = 8.2 × 10(-6)).

CONCLUSIONS: The cell cycle progression score derived from a biopsy sample was associated with adverse outcomes after surgery. These results indicate that the score can be used at disease diagnosis to better define patient prognosis and enable more appropriate clinical care.