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Artificial Intelligence-Based PTEN Loss Assessment as an Early Predictor of Prostate Cancer Metastasis After Surgery: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) loss is associated with adverse outcomes in prostate cancer and can be measured via immunohistochemistry. The purpose of the study was to establish the clinical application of an in-house developed artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis workflow for automated detection of PTEN loss on digital images for identifying patients at risk of early recurrence and metastasis.


Postsurgical tissue microarray sections from the Canary Foundation (n = 1264) stained with anti-PTEN antibody were evaluated independently by pathologist conventional visual scoring (cPTEN) and an automated AI-based image analysis pipeline (AI-PTEN). The relationship of PTEN evaluation methods with cancer recurrence and metastasis was analyzed using multivariable Cox proportional hazard and decision curve models. Both cPTEN scoring by the pathologist and quantification of PTEN loss by AI (high-risk AI-qPTEN) were significantly associated with shorter metastasis-free survival (MFS) in univariable analysis (cPTEN hazard ratio [HR]: 1.54, CI: 1.07-2.21, P = .019; AI-qPTEN HR: 2.55, CI: 1.83-3.56, P < .001). In multivariable analyses, AI-qPTEN showed a statistically significant association with shorter MFS (HR: 2.17, CI: 1.49-3.17, P < .001) and recurrence-free survival (HR: 1.36, CI: 1.06-1.75, P = .016) when adjusting for relevant postsurgical clinical nomogram (Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment [CAPRA] postsurgical score [CAPRA-S]), whereas cPTEN does not show a statistically significant association (HR: 1.33, CI: 0.89-2, P = .2 and HR: 1.26, CI: 0.99-1.62, P = .063, respectively) when adjusting for CAPRA-S risk stratification. More importantly, AI-qPTEN was associated with shorter MFS in patients with favorable pathological stage and negative surgical margins (HR: 2.72, CI: 1.46-5.06, P = .002). Workflow also demonstrated enhanced clinical utility in decision curve analysis, more accurately identifying men who might benefit from adjuvant therapy postsurgery. This study demonstrates the clinical value of an affordable and fully automated AI-powered PTEN assessment for evaluating the risk of developing metastasis or disease recurrence after radical prostatectomy. Adding the AI-qPTEN assessment workflow to clinical variables may affect postoperative surveillance or management options, particularly in low-risk patients.

Source: Patel P;Harmon S;Iseman R;Ludkowski O;Auman H;Hawley S;Newcomb LF;Lin DW;Nelson PS;Feng Z;Boyer HD;Tretiakova MS;True LD;Vakar-Lopez F;Carroll PR;Cooperberg MR;Chan E;Simko J;Fazli L;Gleave M;Hurtado-Coll A;Thompson IM;Troyer D;McKenney JK;Wei W;Choyke PL (2023) Artificial Intelligence-based PTEN loss assessment as an early predictor of prostate cancer metastasis after surgery: A multicenter retrospective study, Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc.