Up to 40% of male patients diagnosed with prostate cancer develop metastatic disease that generally responds to initial chemical or surgical castration, but this eventually progresses despite castrate levels of testosterone, termed castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
A large phase 3 trial of abiraterone acetate in patients who have progressed following docetaxel based chemotherapy were published in 2011 and dramatically proved that CRPC is still androgen-dependant and responds to CYP17 inhibition. Overall survival benefits were also reported for a novel tubulin-binding drug, cabazitaxel, tested as second-line chemotherapy after docetaxel failure; for sipuleucel-T, an autologous dendritic cell therapy, in chemotherapy-naive patients; for MDV3100, a novel antiandrogen, and for radium-223, which is a bone-seeking α-irradiation-emitting radioisotope. Denosumab, a monoclonal antibody against receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand, was shown to be superior to zoledronic acid for prevention of skeletal-related events in prostate cancer patients with metastatic bone disease. This review will focus on the recent developments in the field of CRPC.
Written by:
Omlin A, de Bono JS. Are you the author?
Drug Development Unit, The Institute of Cancer Research, ICR and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sycamore House, Downs Road, Sutton, Surrey, SM25PT, UK.
Reference: Curr Urol Rep. 2012 Apr;13(2):170-8.
doi: 10.1007/s11934-012-0239-z
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22373838