Due to limited success and proved particle migration, carbon coated beads do not show any improvement over existing bulking materials. The clinical effect of bead migration must be determined before extended use of this substance.

The detection of occult lymph node metastases in patients with pT3N0 prostate cancer identifies those with significantly increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death.

High HER-2/neu expression is highly associated with exposure to hormone therapy and androgen independence. It may contribute to androgen independence in prostate cancer and identify patients with prostate cancer more likely to have disease progression, particularly those not exposed to previous hormone therapy.

Purpose: In addition to their expression on pituitary cells, receptors for luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) are found on most prostate cancer cells. These tumoral LH-RH receptors mediate the direct cytotoxic effects of LH-RH analogs and are potential therapeutic targets. Although pituitary LH-RH receptors are downregulated following prolonged exposure to LH-RH agonists, there is no evidence that tumoral receptors behave in a similar manner. To better characterize expression of tumoral LH-RH receptors, specimens of prostate cancer from various cohorts of patients were analyzed.Experimental Design: Surgical specimens were obtained from untreated patients with prostate cancer and from patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer previously treated with bilateral orchiectomy. To address the possibility of receptor downregulation, two additional cohorts of patients who had been previously treated with LH-RH agonists were included. One group received neoadjuvant therapy prior to prostatectomy, and the other group was treated for metastatic disease with LH-RH agonists and, at progression, required palliative resection of the prostate. Lymph node metastases from previously untreated patients were subjected to similar analysis.Results: Expression of LH-RH receptors was found in most specimens. The relative expression of LH-RH receptor mRNA in untreated patients was greater in patients whose tumor had received a Gleason score <8.Conclusions: LH-RH receptor expression persisted despite prolonged exposure to LH-RH agonists. These findings support the concept of targeting cytotoxic LH-RH analogs to prostatic LH-RH receptors, using these receptors to gain entry into cancer cells to deliver a hybridized cytotoxic moiety for the treatment of prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 16(18); 4675-80. ©2010 AACR.