The prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase levels in seminoma patients with advanced disease: an analysis by the Global Germ Cell Tumor Collaborative Group (G3)

World J Urol. 2021 Sep;39(9):3407-3414. doi: 10.1007/s00345-021-03635-3. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

Abstract

Purpose: The prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in patients with metastatic seminoma is not defined. We investigated the prognostic impact of LDH levels prior to first-line systemic treatment and other clinical characteristics in this subset of patients.

Methods: Files from two registry studies and one single-institution database were analyzed retrospectively. Uni- and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify patient characteristics associated with recurrence free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), and complete response rate (CRR).

Results: The dataset included 351 metastatic seminoma patients with a median follow-up of 5.36 years. Five-year RFS, OS and CRR were 82%, 89% and 52%, respectively. Explorative analysis revealed a cut-off LDH level of < 2.5 upper limit of normal (ULN) (n = 228) vs. ≥ 2.5 ULN (n = 123) to be associated with a significant difference concerning OS associated with 5-years OS rates of 93% vs. 83% (p = 0.001) which was confirmed in multivariate analysis (HR 2.87; p = 0.004). Furthermore, the cut-off LDH < 2.5 ULN vs. ≥ 2.5 ULN correlated with RFS and CRR associated with a 5-years RFS rate and CRR of 76% vs. 86% (p = 0.012) and 32% vs. 59% (p ≤ 0.001), respectively.

Conclusions: LDH levels correlate with treatment response and survival in metastatic seminoma patients and should be considered for their prognostic stratification.

Keywords: Lactate dehydrogenase; Prognostic markers; Seminoma; Upper limit of normal.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Humans
  • L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / blood*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prognosis
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Seminoma / blood*
  • Seminoma / mortality*
  • Seminoma / pathology
  • Survival Rate
  • Testicular Neoplasms / blood*
  • Testicular Neoplasms / mortality*
  • Testicular Neoplasms / pathology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • L-Lactate Dehydrogenase