Relationship between androgen receptor binding activity in human prostate cancer and clinical response to endocrine...

The authors investigated the ability of androgen receptor binding in prostate cancer tissue to predict the response of prostate cancer patients to endocrine therapy. The clinical response of 37 previously untreated patients with various grades and stages of prostate cancer was correlated with androgen receptor binding and detailed histologic data obtained before treatment. All patients underwent cold-punch transurethral resection of the prostate and received endocrine therapy. The association between time to progression and cytosolic androgen binding was not significant. However, the associations of time to progression to nuclear binding and to total androgen binding were significant (P = 0.029 and 0.038, respectively). The authors found no association between clinical stage and time to progression, but did find an association between time to progression and pathologic grade (P = 0.003); grade 4 lesions were the least responsive to hormone therapy. When grade 4 lesions were excluded (N = 3), binding levels were still predictive of progression independently of grade and stage. The authors conclude that nuclear receptor binding activity in localized and metastatic prostate cancer tissue is predictive of response to hormonal manipulation.