Correlation Between Trough Level of Abiraterone and Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Response in Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer growth is primarily driven by testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone. Abiraterone is an irreversible inhibitor of CYP17, and CYP17 inhibition is a required step in testosterone biosynthesis. Previous studies have shown that abiraterone trough levels are predictive of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). It has not been demonstrated if this association exists for patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). In this study, we aimed to explore the correlation and association between abiraterone trough levels and PSA levels in patients with mHSPC. MATERIAL/METHODS: This was a single-center, prospective, observational study of patients with mHSPC being treated with abiraterone acetate (AA) 1000 mg once daily. Abiraterone trough levels (22–26 h after drug administration) were drawn at 1, 3, and 7 months after treatment initiation. RESULTS: Thirteen patients with mHSPC were enrolled, and complete pharmacokinetic data were available for 8 patients. The mean trough levels at 1 month, 3 months, and 7 months were 34.49 ng/mL (3.36–240.46), 13.82 ng/mL (2.91–29.96), and 15.7 ng/mL (3.58–26.86), respectively. The correlation between the 1-month abiraterone trough level and 1-month PSA level was 0.29 (P=0.38), between 3-month abiraterone trough and 3-month PSA was −0.61 (P=0.08), and between 7-month abiraterone trough and 7-month PSA was −0.31 (P=0.54). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a trend toward a negative correlation between 3-month abiraterone trough levels and PSA levels, but the correlation was not statistically significant. A study with a larger prospective sample size is needed to validate these findings.