Immune system and intestinal microbiota determine efficacy of androgen deprivation therapy against prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PC) responds to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) usually in a transient fashion, progressing from hormone-sensitive PC (HSPC) to castration-resistant PC (CRPC). We investigated a mouse model of PC as well as specimens from PC patients to unravel an unsuspected contribution of thymus-derived T lymphocytes and the intestinal microbiota in the efficacy of ADT. METHODS: Preclinical experiments were performed in PC-bearing mice, immunocompetent or immunodeficient. In parallel, we prospectively included 65 HSPC and CRPC patients (Oncobiotic trial) to analyze their feces and blood specimens. RESULTS: In PC-bearing mice, ADT increased thymic cellularity and output. PC implanted in T lymphocyte-depleted or athymic mice responded less efficiently to ADT than in immunocompetent mice. Moreover, depletion of the intestinal microbiota by oral antibiotics reduced the efficacy of ADT. PC reduced the relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila in the gut, and this effect was reversed by ADT. Moreover, cohousing of PC-bearing mice with tumor-free mice or oral gavage with Akkermansia improved the efficacy of ADT. This appears to be applicable to PC patients because long-term ADT resulted in an increase of thymic output, as demonstrated by an increase in circulating recent thymic emigrant cells (sjTRECs). Moreover, as compared with HSPC controls, CRPC patients demonstrated a shift in their intestinal microbiota that significantly correlated with sjTRECs. While feces from healthy volunteers restored ADT efficacy, feces from PC patients failed to do so. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the potential clinical utility of reversing intestinal dysbiosis and repairing acquired immune defects in PC patients.

Addition of Primary Metastatic Site on Bone, Brain, and Liver to IMDC Criteria in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Validation Study.

BACKGROUND: The International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) criteria have been largely adopted in clinical practice. In a recent retrospective study, we assessed that the addition of the first site of metastatic disease to brain, bone, and liver improves prognostic stratification of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Here, we performed an external validation in patients with mRCC. Our aim was to evaluate if the addition of a new independent variable could improve IMDC prognosis prediction and reduce heterogeneity within risk categories. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We selected all 1073 patients treated at a single institution for mRCC and included in the Institute Gustave Roussy Renal Cell Carcinoma database. All patients included received at least 1 line of targeted therapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Univariate and multivariate analyses (Cox regression model) were performed. Bootstrap validation of the final model was also carried out for internal validation. The IMDC modified classification was defined by the addition of the seventh variable, and we defined the modified IMDC good-risk criteria as 0 risks, intermediate-risk as 1 to 2 risks, and poor-risk as 3 or more risks. RESULTS: The presence of brain, bone, and/or liver as the first site of metastatic disease plus the other variables included in the IMDC score were statistically significant variables associated with overall survival (OS) after univariate and multivariate analysis and bootstrap validation. Finally, 122 (15%) patients had a modification of their initial risk category. The median OS in the poor-, intermediate-, and favorable-risk groups was 10, 26, and 52 months, respectively (P < .001). The bias-corrected concordance index in patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (n = 241) was 0.71. CONCLUSION: The addition of brain, bone, and/or liver metastases as an additional variable to the other IMDC variables improves the prognostic predictive power of the model.

Association between hepatitis C and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer, the third most common cause for cancer death in the world, a major cause of death in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection, and responsible for approximately one million deaths each year. Overwhelming lines of epidemiological evidence have indicated that persistent infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major risk for the development of HCC. The incidence of HCC is expected to increase in the next two decades, largely due to hepatitis C infection and secondary cirrhosis, and detection of HCC at an early stage is critical for a favorable clinical outcome. Potential preventive strategies in the development of HCC are being recognized. The natural history of HCC is highly variable and the clinical management choices for HCC can be complex, hence patient assessment and treatment planning have to take the severity of the nonmalignant liver disease into account. This review summarizes the inter-relationship between HCV and liver carcinogenesis.