Characterizing the activity of inflammasome genes and their association with oncological outcomes in prostate cancer.
Ghoreifi, A; Alshalalfa, M; Davicioni, E; Hao, Y; Spratt, DE; Karnes, RJ; Purves, JT; Hughes Jr., FM; Moul, JW; Abern, MR
Published in: Journal of Clinical Oncology
Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that regulate inflammation-associated signaling pathways. Although inflammation plays a crucial role in cancer cell proliferation, the specific role of inflammasomes in prostate cancer (PCa) remains underexplored. This study aims to elucidate the expression of inflammasome-related genes in PCa and assess their association with clinical outcomes.
De-identified transcriptome data from a cohort of 52,266 radical prostatectomy (RP) samples tested (2016-2024) with the Decipher prostate genomic classifier (Veracyte, San Diego, CA) were retrieved from the GRID registry (NCT02609269). Expression analysis focused on 33 genes involved in inflammatory pathways. Outcomes analysis was conducted on a retrospective cohort of 855 patients treated with RP (META855), using Cox regression analysis, adjusting for baseline pathological characteristics.
Analysis of baseline gene expression in the GRID RP cohort revealed that most genes exhibit low baseline expression, whereas HSP90AB1, APP, TXN, and TXNIP demonstrate strong expression signals. Higher expression of most genes was associated with higher rate of Gleason grade group 4 or 5 in the GRID RP cohort. On survival analysis of the META855 cohort, higher expression (top 25%) of AIM2 and HSP90AB1 were associated with worse metastasis-free survival (p<0.05 for both). Conversely, both high and low expression levels of NLRP3 were associated with better metastasis-free survival outcomes following RP compared to average expression (p<0.05). On multivariable Cox regression analysis, adjusting for grade group, seminal vesicle involvement, lymph node involvement, and margin status, higher expression of AIM1 (HR 1.75) and HSP90AB1 (HR 1.60) were significantly associated with shorter time to metastasis following RP (p<0.05 for both).
There is a molecular heterogeneity within pro-inflammatory genes among patients with PCa.Our findings showed thathigher expression of HSP90AB1 is linked to poorer oncological outcomes, whereas both high and low expression levels of NLRP3 are associated with better outcomes following RP.Further refinement is required to build a robust signature, along with external validation of these findings in other cohorts.
