Background: Preliminary data suggests that patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC) who achieve deep prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response may have improved survival. This finding may have implications for developing treatment de-escalation strategies. Thus, we assessed the overall survival by deep PSA response in mCSPC patients receiving intensified treatments. Methods: MEDLINE and EMBASE were systematically searched from each database’s inception through 1^st October 2022. Trials assessing androgen deprivation therapy intensification (doublets, triplets) and reporting overall survival (OS) by deep PSA response were considered eligible for inclusion. Deep PSA response was defined as the PSA level of less than 0.1 or 0.2 ng/ml within eight months after initiation of intensified treatment. Precomputed effect estimates of OS (deep PSA response vs no deep PSA response) were pooled using an inverse-variance approach after logarithmic transformation; a random-effects meta-analysis was conducted within the Bayesian framework using empirical informative priors for heterogeneity parameter as specified by Turner et al. Summary effect was expressed as hazard ratios (HR) with the corresponding 95% credible intervals (CrI). A sensitivity analysis was conducted using the Der Simonian-Lairds random-effects meta-analysis with Hartung-Knapp (HK) adjustment. Results: Five RCTs (PEACE-1, ARASENS, CHAARTED, LATITUDE, TITAN) with 2533 patients were included in this systematic review. A total of 1335 patients experienced a deep PSA response, while 1218 did not achieve a deep PSA response after the initiation of intensified treatment. The pooled incidence of deep PSA response was 49.45% (95% confidence interval: 37.75-61.18). Bayesian meta-analysis showed significantly improved OS in overall mCSPC patient population who achieved a deep PSA response after intensified treatment with either triplet or doublet therapy as compared to those who did not achieve a deep PSA response (HR: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.30-0.50) as shown. The results were consistent with HK adjustment. Conclusions: Excellent overall survival in patients with deep PSA response may offer an opportunity to guide treatment de-escalation trials in carefully selected mCSPC patients.

The PEACE-1 trial did not provide analyzable estimates and hence was not included in the analysis.