IMPORTANCE A critical decision in the management of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is when to administer an androgen receptor signaling (ARS) inhibitor or a taxane. OBJECTIVE To determine if pretherapy nuclear androgen-receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) protein expression and localization on circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is a treatment-specific marker for response and outcomes between ARS inhibitors and taxanes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS For this cross-sectional cohort study at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 265 men with progressive mCRPC undergoing a change in treatment were considered; 86 were excluded because they were not initiating ARS or taxane therapy; and 18 were excluded for processing time constraints, leaving 161 patients for analysis. Between December 2012 and March 2015, blood was collected and processed from patients with progressive mCRPC immediately prior to new line of systemic therapy. Patients were followed up to 3 years. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response, time receiving therapy, radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS), and overall survival (OS). RESULTS Overall, of 193 prospectively collected blood samples from 161 men with mCRPC, 191 were evaluable (128 pre-ARS inhibitor and 63 pretaxane). AR-V7–positive CTCs were found in 34 samples (18%), including 3% of first-line, 18% of second-line, and 31% of third- or greater line samples. Patients whose samples had AR-V7–positive CTCs before ARS inhibition had resistant posttherapy PSA changes (PTPC), shorter rPFS, shorter time on therapy, and shorter OS than those without AR-V7–positive CTCs. Overall, resistant PTPC were seen in 65 of 112 samples (58%) without detectable AR-V7–positive CTCs prior to ARS inhibition. There were statistically significant differences in OS but not in PTPC, time on therapy, or rPFS for patients with or without pretherapy AR-V7–positive CTCs treated with a taxane. A multivariable model adjusting for baseline factors associated with survival showed superior OS with taxanes relative to ARS inhibitors when AR-V7–positive CTCs were detected pretherapy (hazard ratio, 0.24; 95%CI, 0.10–0.57; P = .035). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The results validate CTC nuclear expression of AR-V7 protein in men with mCRPC as a treatment-specific biomarker that is associated with superior survival on taxane therapy over ARS-directed therapy in a clinical practice setting. Continued examination of this biomarker in prospective studies will further aid clinical utility.

Importance A blood test to determine whether to treat patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with an androgen receptor signaling (ARS) inhibitor or taxane is an unmet medical need. Objective To determine whether a validated assay for androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) protein in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that is localized to the nucleus can predict differential overall survival (OS) in mCRPC patients treated with taxanes vs. ARS inhibitors. Design Blinded correlative study. Patients were followed up to 4.3 years. Setting Multi-institution outpatient clinics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (USA), Institute for Cancer Research (UK) and London Health Sciences Centre (Canada). Participants A cross-sectional cohort of 248 patients with mCRPC drawn prior to 286 drug exposures were considered. The analysis subset included 142 patients drawn prior to administration of ARS inhibitors or taxanes at the second or greater line of systemic therapy for progressing mCRPC. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s) OS following an ARS inhibitor or taxane in relation to pretherapy AR-V7 status. Results For mCRPC patients designated as high-risk by conventional prognostic factors, AR-V7-positive patients treated with taxanes have superior OS relative to those treated with ARS inhibitors, and AR-V7-negative patients treated with ARS inhibitors have superior OS relative to taxane-treated patients. Conclusion and Relevance Nuclear-localized AR-V7 protein in CTCs can identify patients who may live longer on taxane chemotherapy than on ARS inhibitors (abiraterone, enzalutamide, apalutamide).

Background Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) expressing AR-V7 protein localized to the nucleus (nuclear-specific) identify metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with improved overall survival (OS) on taxane therapy relative to the androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSis) abiraterone acetate, enzalutamide, and apalutamide. Objective To evaluate if expanding the positivity criteria to include both nuclear and cytoplasmic AR-V7 localization (“nuclear-agnostic”) identifies more patients who would benefit from a taxane over an ARSi. Design, setting, and participants The study used a coss-sectional cohort. Between December 2012 and March 2015, 193 pretherapy blood samples, 191 of which were evaluable, were collected and processed from 161 unique mCRPC patients before starting a new line of systemic therapy because of disease progression at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The association between two AR-V7 scoring criteria, post-therapy prostate-specific antigen change (PTPC) and OS following ARSi or taxane treatment, was explored. One criterion required nuclear-specific AR-V7 localization, and the other required an AR-V7 signal but was agnostic to protein localization in CTCs. Outcome measurements and statistical analyses Correlation of AR-V7 status to PTPC and OS was investigated. Relationships with survival were analyzed using multivariable Cox regression and log-rank analyses. Results and limitations A total of 34 (18%) samples were AR-V7-positive using nuclear-specific criteria, and 56 (29%) were AR-V7-positive using nuclear-agnostic criteria. Following ARSi treatment, none of the 16 nuclear-specific AR-V7-positive samples and six of the 32 (19%) nuclear-agnostic AR-V7-positive samples had ≥50% PTPC at 12 wk. The strongest baseline factor influencing OS was the interaction between the presence of nuclear-specific AR-V7-positive CTCs and treatment with a taxane (hazard ratio 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.078–0.79; p = 0.019). This interaction was not significant when nuclear-agnostic criteria were used. Conclusions To reliably inform treatment selection using an AR-V7 protein biomarker in CTCs, nuclear-specific localization is required. Patient summary We analyzed outcomes for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer on androgen receptor signaling inhibitors and standard chemotherapy. Patients with circulating tumor cells that had AR-V7 protein in the cellular nuclei were very likely to survive longer on chemotherapy, and tests unable to distinguish where the protein is located in the cell are not as predictive of benefit.

Background The transition of prostate adenocarcinoma to a predominantly androgen receptor (AR) signaling independent phenotype can occur in the later stages of the disease and is associated with low AR expression and/or the development of small cell or neuroendocrine tumor characteristics. As metastatic tumor biopsies are not always feasible and are difficult to repeat, we sought to evaluate noninvasive methods to identify patients transitioning towards a neuroendocrine phenotype (NEPC). Experimental Design We prospectively studied a metastatic tumor biopsy, serum biomarkers and circulating tumor cells (CTC, Epic Sciences) from patients with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) including those with pure or mixed NEPC histology present on biopsy. CTCs labeled with the patient’s clinical status were used to learn features that discriminate NEPC patients, which was then applied to an independent cohort. Results Twenty-seven patients with CRPC including 12 NEPC and 5 with atypical clinical features suggestive of NEPC transition were studied. CTCs from NEPC patients demonstrated frequent clusters, low or absent AR expression, lower cytokeratin expression, and smaller morphology relative to typical CRPC. A multivariate analysis of protein and morphologic variables enabled distinguishing CTCs of NEPC from CRPC. This CTC classifier was applied to an independent prospective cohort of 159 metastatic CRPC patients and identified in 17/159 (10.7%) of cases, enriched in patients with high CTC burden (p<0.01) and visceral metastases (p=0.04). Conclusions CTCs from patients with NEPC have unique morphologic characteristics, which were also identified in a subset of CRPC patients with aggressive clinical features potentially undergoing NEPC transition.