PURPOSE: To study associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in Ribonuclease L (RNASEL), a gene implicated in inflammation and prostate cancer risk, and outcomes after radiation therapy.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We followed participants in the prospective US Health Professionals Follow-Up Study treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer. Three SNPs were genotyped based on previously determined functional and biological significance. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards models to assess per-allele associations with the primary outcome defined as time to a composite endpoint including development of lethal prostate cancer or biochemical recurrence.
RESULTS: We followed 434 patients treated with radiation therapy for a median of 9 years. On multivariate analysis, the rs12757998 variant allele was associated with significantly decreased risk of the composite endpoint [HR: 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45-0.94%; P = 0.02] driven by decreased biochemical recurrence (HR: 0.60; 95% CI, 0.40-0.89%; P = 0.01) and men treated with external beam (HR: 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.93%; P = 0.02). In contrast, in 516 men from the same cohort treated with radical prostatectomy, we found no significant impact of this variant on outcome. Furthermore, the rs12757998 variant allele significantly modified the association between androgen deprivation therapy and outcomes after radiation therapy (p-interaction = 0.02).
CONCLUSION: We show an association between RNASEL SNP rs12757998 and outcome after radiation therapy for prostate cancer. This SNP is associated with increased circulating C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, suggesting a potential role for inflammation in the response to radiation. If validated, genetic predictors of outcome may help inform prostate cancer management.
Written by:
Schoenfeld JD, Margalit DN, Kasperzyk JL, Shui IM, Rider JR, Epstein MM, Meisner A, Kenfield SA, Martin NE, Nguyen PL, Kantoff PW, Giovannucci EL, Stampfer MJ, Mucci LA. Are you the author?
Harvard Radiation Oncology Program; Brigham and Women's Hospital; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Reference: Clin Cancer Res. 2013 Mar 15;19(6):1612-9.
doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-12-2718
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23382116
UroToday.com Investigative Urology Section
