Androgen receptor splice variant 7 detected by immunohistochemical is an independent poor prognostic marker in men receiving adjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy after radical prostatectomy

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the predictive value of AR-V7 expression detected by immunohistochemical (IHC) in the prognosis of prostate cancer patients receiving adjuvant hormonal therapy (AHT) following radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: We retrospectively collected data of 110 patients with prostate cancer receiving RP, followed by AHT, from Tongji hospital. IHC analysis of AR-V7 expression was performed in a retrospective cohort. RESULTS: In total, 110 patients were enrolled, of whom 21 patients (19.1%) were AR-V7-positive and 89 patients (80.9%) were AR-V7-negative. No significant differences in baseline characteristics were found between the two groups. AR-V7-positive patients had shorter progression-free survival (PFS) (HR: 4.26; 95% CI, 1.55 to 11.68; P = 0.003), shorter cancer-special survival (CSS) (HR: 22.47; 95% CI, 2.912 to 173.4; P = 0.003) and shorter overall survival (OS) (HR: 6.61; 95% CI, 1.40 to 31.20; P = 0.017) compared to AR-V7-negative patients. In multivariate analysis, AR-V7 is an independent risk factor for shorter PFS (HR, 3.76; 95% CI, 1.63 to 8.70; P = 0.002), shorter CSS (HR: 9.17; 95% CI, 1.48 to 55.56; P = 0.017) and shorter OS (HR: 4.81; 95% CI, 1.28 to 17.86; P = 0.020). CONCLUSION: The presence of AR-V7 in prostate cancer tissue is independently associated with an unfavorable prognosis for PFS, OS and CSS in patients who received AHT. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40364-021-00276-x.