Concurrent Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer Improves Survival for Synchronous or Metachronous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A SEER-Medicare Database Analysis

Simple Summary The study showed that androgen deprivation therapy for a preceding diagnosis of prostate cancer is associated with prolonged survival among patients who subsequently develop lung cancer. These population-level findings support a role of the androgen receptor in lung cancer. Introduction: The crosstalk between receptor kinase signaling, such as EGFR and androgen receptor signaling, suggests a potential interaction between androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and lung cancer outcome. Methods: We employed the SEER-Medicare data of lung cancer patients diagnosed between 1988 and 2005 to test for an association between ADT for prostate cancer and lung cancer outcome. We employed the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard with log-rank test model to assess any significant impact of ADT on survival. Results: We included data from 367,750 lung cancer patients; 17.4%, 2.9%, 33.6% and 46.1% with stages I, II, III and IV, respectively; 84.5% were >65 years; 57.2% males; 84.2% Caucasians and 9.3% Blacks. There were 11,061 patients (3%) with an initial prostate cancer diagnosis followed by lung cancer (P-L group); 3017 (0.8%) with an initial diagnosis of lung cancer and subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis (L-P group); the remainder had only lung cancer (L group). Stage I lung cancer was most common in the L-P group compared to the L and P-L groups-54% vs. 17.13% vs. 17.92%, p < 0.0001 for L-P, L and P-L, respectively. The median OS for lung cancer diagnosis was 93 months versus 10 and 9 months, respectively, for the L-P, L and P-L subgroups. ADT was associated with improved survival on multivariate analysis, especially in Caucasian patients (HR of death: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76-0.97; p = 0.012). Conclusion: ADT was associated with improved outcome for NSCLC, in line with the hypothesis of a role for the androgen receptor in lung cancer. Our findings support a systematic evaluation of the potential benefit of ADT as a therapy for lung cancer.

Automated summary

The study found that previous androgen deprivation therapy in prostate cancer patients is associated with longer survival when they subsequently develop lung cancer. These findings indicate a potential role of the androgen receptor in lung cancer.