BACKGROUND: Cabazitaxel is an effective treatment of post-docetaxel metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). We aimed to assess the sequencing impact and identify prognostic factors of oncologic outcomes in mCRPC patients treated with cabazitaxel. METHODS: PUBMED, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched for articles published before January 2022 according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses) statement. Studies were deemed eligible if they investigated pretreatment clinical or hematological prognostic factors of overall survival (OS) in mCRPC patients with progression after docetaxel treated with available treatments including cabazitaxel. RESULTS: Overall, 22 studies were eligible for the meta-analysis. In mCRPC patients treated with docetaxel, subsequent treatment with cabazitaxel was associated with better OS compared to that without cabazitaxel (pooled hazard ratio [HR]: 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56-0.89). Among the patients treated with cabazitaxel, several pretreatment clinical features and hematologic biomarkers were associated with worse OS as follows: poor performance status (PS) (pooled HR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.33-2.77), presence of visceral metastasis (pooled HR: 2.13, 95% CI: 1.62-2.81), symptomatic disease (pooled HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.25-1.73), high PSA (pooled HR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.27-2.44), high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (pooled HR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.28-1.65), high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (pooled HR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.00-2.38), high c-reactive protein (CRP) (pooled HR: 4.40, 95% CI: 1.52-12.72), low albumin (pooled HR:1.09, 95% CI: 1.05-1.12) and low hemoglobin (pooled HR:1.55, 95% CI: 1.20-1.99). CONCLUSIONS: Sequential therapy with cabazitaxel significantly improves OS in post-docetaxel mCRPC patients. In mCRPC patients treated with cabazitaxel, patients with poor PS, visceral metastasis, and symptomatic disease were associated with worse OS. Further, pretreatment high PSA, ALP, LDH or CRP as well as low hemoglobin or albumin, were blood-based prognostic factors for OS. These findings might help guide the clinical decision-making for the use of cabazitaxel and prognostication of its OS benefit.

Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit Division of Urology University of Montreal Health Center Montreal Canada

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam Saudi Arabia

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology La Croix Du Sud Hospital Quint Fonsegrives France

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology Medical University of Silesia Zabrze Poland

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Okayama Japan

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg University Hospital Salzburg Salzburg Austria

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology The Jikei University School of Medicine Tokyo Japan

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Department of Urology University Medical Centre Hamburg Eppendorf Hamburg Germany

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health Sechenov University Moscow Russia

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health Sechenov University Moscow Russia; Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research Al Ahliyya Amman University Amman Jordan; Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas TX; Department of Urology 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic; Department of Urology Weill Cornell Medical College New York NY; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology Vienna Austria

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Men's Health and Reproductive Health Research Center Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Tehran Iran

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria; Research Center for Evidence Based Medicine Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz Iran

Department of Urology Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary

Department of Urology The Jikei University School of Medicine Tokyo Japan

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