Systemic interrogation of immune-oncology-related proteins in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer undergoing androgen deprivation and intensity-modulated radiotherapy

Purpose The primary objective was to establish whether blood-based leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein (LRG1) can predict outcomes in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer undergoing androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and radiotherapy (RT) and to determine how it may relate to 92 immune-oncology (I-O)-related proteins in this setting.

Methods Baseline blood level of LRG1 from patients treated with ADT and RT enrolled in the CuPCa ( n  = 128) and IMRT ( n  = 81) studies was measured using ELISA.

A longitudinal cohort with matched blood samples from start of ADT, start of RT, and end of RT protocol from 47 patients from the IMRT cohort was used to establish levels of I-O proteins by high-multiplexing Proximal Extension Assay by Olink Proteomics.

Statistical analyses using Kaplan–Meier, Cox regression, and LIMMA analyses were applied to predict the prognostic value of LRG1 and its correlation to I-O proteins.

Results High baseline levels of LRG1 predicted a low frequency of treatment failure in patients undergoing ADT + RT in both the CuPCa and the IMRT cohorts.

LRG1 was moderately correlated with CD4, IL6, and CSF1.

We identified I-O proteins predicting metastatic failure (MF) at different timepoints.

Conclusion LRG1 biomarker is associated with I-O proteins and can be used to improve stratification and monitoring of prostate cancer patients undergoing ADT + RT.

This work will require further in-depth analyses in independent cohorts with treatment outcome data.

Graphical abstract Study outline.

A) Study cohorts.

B) Sampling time points in a longitudinal cohort.