Current Advances in Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer

REVIEW ARTICLE


Romain Mathieu^1, Grégory Verhoest^1, Sébastien Vincendeau^1, Andréa Manunta^1, Renaud De Crevoisier^2, François Guillé¹ and Karim Bensalah¹

Affiliations: ¹Department of Urology, Rennes University Hospital, Rennes, Cedex, France and ²Department of Oncology, Rennes University Hospital, Rennes, Cedex, France

ABSTRACT

Androgen blockade is the standard treatment of metastatic PCa. However, after a limited period of time, tumoral cells invariably become resistant to hormone therapy. Docetaxel-based chemotherapy is the standard option when hormonal treatment fails. New chemotherapeutic agents are being evaluated. Some of them, including cabazitaxel, have shown significant results. Research is ongoing and numerous agents undergo evaluation through phase II and III trials. Better understanding of biological pathways involved in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) could lead to the development of new efficient therapeutic agents. Specific drugs targeting androgen receptors, the angiogenesis pathway, bone tissue, apoptosis, or the immune system have recently emerged. Some of them such as denosumab and sipuleucel have shown interesting results and could be used in a clinical setting in the future. This article is a review of the literature and ongoing trials that describes most recent advances in chemotherapy, hormonal, and targeted therapies for the management of CRPC.

Keywords: prostate cancer, chemotherapy, targeted therapies

Correspondence: Karim Bensalah, Service d'Urologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes, 2 rue Henri Le Guilloux, 35033 Rennes, Cedex, France. Tel: +33 2 99 28 42 69; Fax: +33 2 99 28 41 13; e-mail: Karim.Bensalah@chu-rennes.fr