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Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and prognostic value of the polymorphic variant (1245A>C), a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the HSD3B1 gene, in the tumors of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Materials and Methods We retrospectively evaluated 44 patients with CRPC who underwent palliative transurethral resection of the prostate. Genomic DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded material, and 1245A>C SNP of the HSD3B1 gene was analyzed via Sanger sequencing. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the prognostic value of the respective SNP with time to progression as well as cancer-specific and overall survival in the subgroup of patients receiving second systemic treatment. Results The SNP was present in 20 patients (51.2%) who received second line systemic treatment additionally to androgen deprivation, of which 16 (80%) patients were heterozygous and 4 (20%) were homozygous. Correlation analysis revealed no association of the SNP with any clinical characteristics at initiation of second-line systemic treatment. Moreover, the presence of the variant (1245A>C) of HSD3B1 was not associated with any survival endpoint. Conclusions The variant allele 1245C of the HSD3B1 gene is present in approximately one-half of patients with CRPC; however, it is not associated with oncologic outcomes. These findings, however, need to be interpreted with caution as the sample size is small. Further research on biomarkers is needed to help tailor clinical decision making in prostate cancer, especially in the increasingly complex therapeutic landscape of CRPC.

Recent meta-analyses on checkpoint inhibitors in cancer report conflicting data regarding the association of patient gender with inhibitor efficacy. In advanced kidney cancer, checkpoint inhibitors have shown improved outcomes in first- and second-line settings compared with standard of care, but the role of patient gender on treatment outcome is unclear. We aimed to assess the efficacy of immunotherapy according to patient gender in advanced kidney cancer. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library to identify eligible studies published through February 16, 2019. Studies were included if they reported on the differential outcomes of male and female patients with metastatic kidney cancer receiving immunotherapy. Our outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS) or progression-free survival (PFS). Four randomized controlled trials comprising a total of 3664 patients (2715 males and 949 females) met our inclusion criteria. Both men and women with metastatic kidney cancer had an OS and PFS advantage with immunotherapy compared with standard-of-care, but no statistically significant difference between the genders was observed (OS hazard ratio [HR] for men, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59-0.8; P = .40; HR for women, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.48-0.81; P = .13; PFS HR for men, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.59-0.82; P = .24; HR for women, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.52-0.90; P = .105). In patients with advanced kidney cancer receiving checkpoint inhibitors, there seems to be no association of patient gender with treatment outcome.