The clinical value of sarcopenia has not been determined yet in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). We retrospectively evaluated data of 70 consecutive patients with mHSPC receiving treatment with either early docetaxel (n = 42) or abiraterone acetate (n = 28) between July 2018 and April 2021. Skeletal muscle index was calculated from cross-sectional areas of skeletal muscle on baseline computed tomography (CT), defining sarcopenia as a skeletal muscle index of ≤52.4 cm²/m². Failure-free survival (FFS), radiographic progression-free survival, and time to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and differences in survival probability were compared using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictors of clinical outcomes. Patients with sarcopenia (n = 47) had shorter FFS than those without sarcopenia (n = 23) (median, 20.1 months vs. not reached; log-rank p < 0.001). Sarcopenia was independently associated with shorter FFS (hazard ratio (HR), 6.69; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.57–28.49; p = 0.010) and time to PSA progression (HR, 12.91; 95% CI, 1.08–153.85; p = 0.043). In conclusion, sarcopenia is an independent prognostic factor for poor FFS and time to PSA progression in patients with mHSPC who receive early docetaxel or abiraterone acetate treatment.

Purpose: To compare the perioperative outcomes and oncological results of open, laparoscopic, and robotic radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) in patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and to analyze trends in the utilization of RNU. Methods: From 2017 to 2020, the records of 61, 185, and 119 patients who underwent open, laparoscopic, and robotic RNU, respectively, were reviewed. Results: Baseline characteristics were not significantly different among the three groups. Robotic RNU has recently started to increase from 9% in 2017 to 67% in 2021. Operation time, blood loss, length of hospital stay, and 90-day complications were not different between the three groups. The three-year overall survival (OS) rates for open, laparoscopic, and robotic RNU were 91.8%, 90.4%, and 92.1%, respectively (p > 0.05). No differences in the progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and OS were observed according to the surgical approach in the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that surgical approach was not an independent predictor of PFS, CSS, and OS. Conclusion: The use of robotic RNU in patients with UTUC has been starting to increase and replace open and laparoscopic RNU. Perioperative outcomes, 90-day complications, and oncological outcomes of robotic RNU were not inferior to those of open and laparoscopic RNU.

As the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) has increased, screening based on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has become controversial due to the low specificity of PSA. Therefore, we investigated the diagnostic performance of prostate health index (PHI) density (PHID) for the detection of PCa and clinically significant PCa (csPCa) compared to PSA, PSA density (PSAD), and PHI as a triaging test. We retrospectively reviewed 306 men who underwent prostate biopsy for PSA levels of 2.5 to 10 ng/mL between January 2020 and April 2023. Of all cohorts, 86 (28.1%) and 48 (15.7%) men were diagnosed with PCa and csPCa, respectively. In ROC analysis, the highest AUC was identified for PHID (0.812), followed by PHI (0.791), PSAD (0.650), and PSA (0.571) for PCa. A similar trend was observed for csPCa: PHID (AUC 0.826), PHI (AUC 0.796), PSAD (AUC 0.671), and PSA (0.552). When the biopsy was restricted to men with a PHID ≥ 0.56, 26.5% of unnecessary biopsies could be avoided; however, 9.3% of PCa cases and one csPCa case (2.1%) remained undiagnosed. At approximately 90% sensitivity for csPCa, at the given cut-off values of PHI ≥ 36.4, and PHID ≥ 0.91, 48.7% and 49.3% of unnecessary biopsies could be avoided. In conclusion, PHID had a small advantage over PHI, about 3.6%, for the reduction in unnecessary biopsies for PCa. The PHID and PHI showed almost the same diagnostic performance for csPCa detection. PHID can be used as a triaging test in a clinical setting to pre-select the risk of PCa and csPCa.

Background: The absence of randomized controlled trials and the presence of inherent selection bias in existing studies have led to ongoing uncertainty regarding the impact of urinary diversion (UD) type (orthotopic UD or nonorthotopic UD) on urethral recurrence (UR) following radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer. This study aimed to assess the impact of the UD types on UR after RC and to identify predictive factors associated with UR. Materials and methods: This retrospective analysis encompassed 612 male patients who underwent RC for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Among them, 341 patients received nonorthotopic UD [ileal conduit (IC) or ureterocutaneostomy (UC)], whereas 271 received orthotopic neobladder (NB) between January 2012 and October 2022. To mitigate potential biases, we employed 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) and stabilized inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW). Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank tests were employed to assess UR-free survival between the IC/UC and NB groups, while multivariable Cox regression analysis was conducted to determine predictive factors for UR. Results: Among the 612 patients included, 33 (5.4%) experienced UR. PSM yielded matched cohort comprising 412 patients, evenly distributed with 206 patients in each group (IC/UC and NB). Clinicopathological data demonstrated similarity between the two groups. Patients who underwent NB exhibited significantly superior UR-free survival in both PSM (log-rank P=0.033) and IPTW cohorts (log-rank P=0.009). NB reconstruction (vs. IC/UC) emerged as a substantial protective factor against UR [hazard ratio (HR) 0.283; 95% CI: 0.088–0.916; P=0.035], whereas prostatic urethral involvement was identified as a significant risk factor (HR 5.328; 95% CI: 1.298–21.868; P=0.020) in the PSM cohort. Additionally, in the IPTW cohort, NB reconstruction (vs. IC/UC) maintained its significance as a protective factor against UR (HR 0.336; 95% CI: 0.131–0.858; P=0.023) along with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (HR 0.335; 95% CI: 0.116–0.969; P=0.044), whereas prostatic urethral involvement remained a significant risk factor (HR 3.752; 95% CI: 1.484–9.488; P=0.005). Conclusions: Even after mitigating selection bias, NB reconstruction holds a protective effect against UR in male patients undergoing RC for bladder cancer.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) has been reported to be highly immune to and infiltrated by T cells and has angiogenesis features, but the effect of given features on clinical outcomes followed by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in ccRCC has not been fully characterized. Currently, loss of function mutation in PBRM1, a PBAF-complex gene frequently mutated in ccRCC, is associated with clinical benefit from ICIs, and is considered as a predictive biomarker for response to anti-PD-1 therapy. However, functional mechanisms of PBRM1 mutation regarding immunotherapy responsiveness are still poorly understood. Here, we performed targeted sequencing (n = 60) and whole transcriptomic sequencing (WTS) (n = 61) of patients with metastatic ccRCC treated by ICIs. By integrating WTS data from the CheckMate 025 trial, we obtained WTS data of 177 tumors and finally identified three molecular subtypes that are characterized by distinct molecular phenotypes and frequency of PBRM1 mutations. Patient clustered subtypes 1 and 3 demonstrated worse responses and survival after ICIs treatment, with a low proportion of PBRM1 mutation and angiogenesis-poor, but were immune-rich and cell-cycle enriched. Notably, patients clustered in the subtype 2 showed a better response and survival after ICIs treatment, with enrichment of PBRM1 mutation and metabolic programs and a low exhausted immune phenotype. Further analysis of the subtype 2 population demonstrated that GATM (glycine amidinotransferase), as a novel gene associated with PBRM1 mutation, plays a pivotal role in ccRCC by using a cell culture model, revealing tumor, suppressive-like features in reducing proliferation and migration. In summary, we identified that metastatic ccRCC treated by ICIs have distinct genomic and transcriptomic features that may account for their responsiveness to ICIs. We also revealed that the novel gene GATM can be a potential tumor suppressor and/or can be associated with therapeutic efficacy in metastatic ccRCC treated by ICIs.

The risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in prostate imaging reporting and data system version 2 (PI-RADSv2) score-3 lesions is equivocal; it is regarded as an intermediate status of presented PCa. In this study, we evaluated the clinical utility of the prostate health index (PHI) for the diagnosis of PCa and clinically significant PCa (csPCa) in patients with PI-RADSv2 score-3 lesions. The study cohort included patients who underwent a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided, cognitive-targeted biopsy for PI-RADSv2 score-3 lesions between November 2018 and April 2021. Before prostate biopsy, the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) derivatives, such as total PSA (tPSA), [-2] proPSA (p2PSA) and free PSA (fPSA) were determined. The calculation equation of PHI is as follows: [(p2PSA/fPSA) × tPSA ½]. Using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the values of PSA derivatives measured by the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were compared. For this study, csPCa was defined as Gleason grade 2 or higher. Of the 392 patients with PI-RADSv2 score-3 lesions, PCa was confirmed in 121 (30.9%) patients, including 59 (15.1%) confirmed to have csPCa. Of all the PSA derivatives, PHI and PSA density (PSAD) showed better performance in predicting overall PCa and csPCa, compared with PSA (all p < 0.05). The AUC of the PHI for predicting overall PCa and csPCa were 0.807 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.710–0.906, p = 0.001) and 0.819 (95% CI: 0.723–0.922, p < 0.001), respectively. By the threshold of 30, PHI was 91.7% sensitive and 46.1% specific for overall PCa, and was 100% sensitive for csPCa. Using 30 as a threshold for PHI, 34.4% of unnecessary biopsies could have been avoided, at the cost of 8.3% of overall PCa, but would include all csPCa.