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. 2024 Jun;23(2):297-304.
doi: 10.1007/s42000-023-00520-z. Epub 2023 Dec 21.

Anti-Müllerian hormone: a novel biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer? Emerging evidence from a prospective study of radical prostatectomies

Stavros Kontogiannis  1 , Georgios Markantes  2 , Maria Stamou  3 , Michail Tsagkarakis  4 , Irini Mamali  2 , Konstantinos Giannitsas  4 , Petros Perimenis  4 , Neoklis Georgopoulos  2 , Anastasios Athanasopoulos  4
Affiliations

Anti-Müllerian hormone: a novel biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer? Emerging evidence from a prospective study of radical prostatectomies

Stavros Kontogiannis et al. Hormones (Athens). 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: Prostate cancer patients are a heterogeneous group as regards the aggressiveness of the disease. The relationship of steroid hormones with the aggressiveness of prostate cancer is unclear. It is known that the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) inhibits prostate cancer cell lines in vitro. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of AMH and steroid hormones with the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

Methods: This was a prospective study of consecutive radical prostatectomy patients. We measured the following hormones: total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, albumin, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, and AMH. The minimum follow-up after radical prostatectomy was 5 years. For the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, we considered the following three variables: post-operative Gleason score (GS) ≥ 8, TNM pΤ3 disease, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) biochemical recurrence (BCR).

Results: In total, 91 patients were enrolled. The mean age and PSA were 64.8 years and 9.3 ng/dl, respectively. The median post-operative GS was 7. Low AMH blood levels were correlated with higher post-operative GS (p = 0.001), as well as with PSA BCR (p = 0.043). With pT3 disease, only albumin was (negatively) correlated (p = 0.008). ROC analysis showed that AMH is a good predictor of BCR (AUC 0.646, 95% CI 0.510-0.782, p = 0.043); a cutoff value of 3.06 ng/dl had a positive prognostic value of 71.4% and a negative prognostic value of 63.3% for BCR. Cox regression analysis showed that AMH is a statistically significant and independent prognostic marker for BCR (p = 0.013). More precisely, for every 1 ng/ml of AMH rise, the probability for PSA BCR decreases by 20.8% (HR = 0.792). Moreover, in Kaplan-Meier analysis, disease-free survival is more probable in patients with AMΗ ≥ 3.06 ng/ml (p = 0.004).

Conclusions: Low AMH blood levels were correlated with aggressive prostate cancer in this radical prostatectomy cohort of patients. Therefore, AMH could be a prognostic biomarker for the aggressiveness of the disease.

Keywords: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH); Biomarker; Prostate cancer; Radical prostatectomy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
ROC curve for PSA biochemical recurrence, AMH cutoff 3.06 ng/ml
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Kaplan–Meier analysis for disease-free survival versus PSA biochemical recurrence, irrespective of Pt stage, AMH more than 3.06 ng/ml. b Kaplan–Meier analysis for disease-free survival versus PSA biochemical recurrence for pT3 patients, AMH more than 3.06 ng/ml. c Kaplan–Meier analysis for disease-free survival versus PSA biochemical recurrence for pT2 patients, AMH more than 3.06 ng/ml
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