Prostate cancer (Pca) is among the most common malignant diseases in men and the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Surgery and radical radiotherapy (RT) remain the gold standard for the treatment of localized or locally advanced prostate cancer. The efficiency of radiotherapy treatment is limited by toxic side effects due to dose escalation. Cancer cells often develop radio-resistant mechanisms that are related to the DNA repair, inhibition of apoptosis or changes in cell cycle. Based on our earlier research on biomarkers that are involved in those cellular mechanisms (p53, bcl-2, NF-kb, Cripto-1 and Ki67 proliferation) and correlation with clinico-pathological parameters (age, PSA value, Gleason score, grade group, prognostic group), we created the numerical index for risk of tumor progression in patients with radioresistant tumors. For each of these parameters, the strength of association with disease progression was statistically assessed, and a specific number of points was assigned proportional to the strength of the correlation. Statistical analysis identified an optimal cut-off score of 22 or more as an indicator of significant risk for progression with a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 66.7%. The scoring system in the retrospective receiver operating characteristic analysis showed AUC of 0.82. The potential value of this scoring is the possibility of identifying patients with clinically significant radioresistant Pca.
Keywords: biomarkers; disease progression; immunohistochemistry; prostate cancer; radiotherapy resistance.