Association of circulating tumor cells (CTC) with survival outcomes in patients (pts) with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) in a real-world cohort.

Abstract

59 Background: In mCSPC, baseline CTC counts have been shown to correlate with PSA responses and progression free survival (PFS) in small studies in the context of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) without modern intensification with docetaxel or novel hormonal therapy. Similar correlation of CTC count with PSA responses and PFS was recently reported from an ongoing phase 3 trial in mCSPC setting (SWOG1216) without reporting the association in the context of ADT intensification. Furthermore, none of these studies correlated CTCs with overall survival (OS). Herein we evaluated whether CTCs were associated with outcomes including OS in a real world mCPSC population treated with intensified as well as non-intensified ADT. Methods: Eligibility criteria: new mCSPC receiving ADT with or without intensification and enumeration of baseline CTCs by FDA cleared Cell Search CTC assay. The relationship between CTC counts (categorized as: 0, 1-4, and ≥5/7.5 ml) and both PFS and OS was assessed in the context of Cox proportional hazards models, both unadjusted and adjusted for age, Gleason, PSA at ADT initiation, de novo vs. non-de novo status, and ADT intensification vs. non-intensification therapy. Results: Overall 99 pts were identified. Baseline characteristics are summarized in Table. In unadjusted analyses, CTC counts of ≥5 as compared to 0 were strongly associated with inferior PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 3.38, 95% CI 1.85-6.18; p < 0.001) and OS (HR 4.44 95% CI 1.63-12.10; p = 0.004). In multivariate analyses, CTC counts of ≥5 as compared to 0 continued to be associated with inferior PFS (HR 5.49, 95% CI 2.64-11.43; p < 0.001) and OS (HR 4.00, 95% CI 1.31-12.23; p = 0.015). Within the ADT intensification subgroup also, high CTC counts were associated with poor PFS and OS. For PFS, the univariate HR for CTC ≥5 vs. 0 was 4.87 (95% CI 1.66-14.30; p = 0.004) and multivariate HR for CTC ≥5 vs. 0 was 7.43 (95% CI 1.92-28.82; p = 0.004). For OS, the univariate HR for CTC ≥5 vs. 0 was 15.88 (95% CI 1.93-130.58; p = 0.010) and multivariate HR for CTC ≥5 vs. 0 was 24.86 (95% CI 2.03-304.45; p = 0.012). Conclusions: To best of our knowledge this is the first study to show that high baseline CTC counts are strongly associated with inferior PFS as well as OS in pts with newly diagnosed mCSPC, even in those who received intensified ADT therapy. Identifying these pts at highest risk of progression and death can help with counselling and prognostication in clinics as well as design and enrollment in future clinical trials. [Table: see text]