Neoadjuvant Treatment of High-Risk, Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer Prior to Radical Prostatectomy

Multimodal strategies combining local and systemic therapy offer the greatest chance of cure for many with men with high-risk prostate cancer who may harbor occult metastatic disease. However, no systemic therapy combined with radical prostatectomy has proven beneficial. This was in part due to a lack of effective systemic agents; however, there have been several advancements in the metastatic and castrate-resistant prostate cancer that might prove beneficial if given earlier in the natural history of the disease. For example, novel hormonal agents have recently been approved for castration-resistant prostate cancer with some early phase II neoadjuvant showing promise. Additionally, combination therapy with docetaxel-based chemohormonal has demonstrated a profound survival benefit in metastatic hormone-naïve patients and might have a role in eliminating pre-existing ADT-resistant tumor cells in the neoadjuvant setting. The Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Alliance 90203 trial has finished accrual and should answer the question as to whether neoadjuvant docetaxel-based chemohormonal therapy provides an advantage over prostatectomy alone. There are also several promising targeted agents and immunotherapies under investigation in phase I/II trials with the potential to provide benefit in the neoadjuvant setting.

Current urology reports. 2016 May [Epub]

Eugene J Pietzak, James A Eastham

Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA. ., Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065, USA. .