Technologies

This invention provides a biomarker and methods for predicting clinical efficacy of taxane chemotherapy in prostate cancer patients and a device for detecting the biomarker in a test sample.

Androgen ablation therapy is the mainstay for prostate cancer treatment. However, many patients progress to castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Recent studies show that the presence of AR splice variants is common in CRPC and associates with resistance to current androgen deprivation therapies. AR variants ARv567 and ARv7 appear to be the two most clinically prevalent splice variants.

CRPC patients are commonly treated with taxanes. However, the impact of AR variant expression on taxane sensitivity and resistance has not been evaluated. Cornell researchers show that ARv567, but not ARv7, binds microtubules and the dynein motor protein and that taxane treatment inhibits the nuclear accumulation and activity of ARv567 but is ineffective in the case of ARv7. Expression of ARv567 correlates with taxane sensitivityin vivowhile expression of Arv7 is associated with drug resistancein vivo.

These data suggest that AR variant expression can serve as predictive biomarker of clinical response to taxane chemotherapy in prostate cancer. This will help clinicians tailor treatment in CRPC patients.