Systematic Literature Review of the Epidemiology of Advanced Prostate Cancer and Associated Homologous Recombination Repair Gene Alterations

J Urol. 2021 Apr;205(4):977-986. doi: 10.1097/JU.0000000000001570. Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Abstract

Purpose: To characterize the global epidemiology of metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Additionally, to assess the prevalence of homologous recombination repair gene alterations (HRRm) and their prognostic impact in advanced disease setting.

Materials and methods: A systematic literature review of real-world evidence published from January 2009 through May 2019 was conducted to assess global epidemiology and clinical practice trends for mCSPC, nmCRPC, mCRPC and HRRm; 4,732 papers were systematically screened for inclusion. Ten conference proceedings from 2014 through 2019 were reviewed.

Results: Of the screened articles 22 relevant publications were identified for this paper. Six publications reported global epidemiology of advanced prostate cancer. The prevalence of nmCRPC was estimated as 1.1% to 12.3% of prostate cancer cases and for mCRPC 1.2% to 2.1% of prostate cancer cases. No mCSPC prevalence was captured. Sixteen publications investigated HRRm prevalence in advanced prostate cancer with the majority conducted in mCRPC assessed using next-generation sequencing of tissue and germline samples. In mCRPC, the highest prevalence HRRm in both germline (3.3%-6.0%) and somatic (5.0%-15.1%) was BRCA2. Five publications reported the prognostic impact of HRRm in advanced prostate cancer.

Conclusions: Published real-world evidence quantifying the prevalence of advanced prostate cancer and HRRm beyond mCRPC is sparse. Published data on HRRm, specifically BRCA2, are consistent with published clinical trial data for poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors in mCRPC. In mCRPC, real-world evidence suggests that patients with HRRm have different clinical outcomes to noncarriers. More data are needed to better understand real-world patient segmentation and clinical outcomes for biomarkers given increasing interest in profiling.

Keywords: epidemiology; prostatic neoplasms.

Publication types

  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Circulating Tumor DNA / genetics
  • DNA Mutational Analysis
  • Disease Progression
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Germ-Line Mutation
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Prevalence
  • Prognosis
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen / blood
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / epidemiology*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / genetics*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / pathology
  • Recombinational DNA Repair*

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Circulating Tumor DNA
  • Prostate-Specific Antigen