Androgen deprivation therapy: progress in understanding mechanisms of resistance and optimizing androgen depletion

Abstract

SUMMARYAndrogen deprivation therapy remains a critical component of treatment for men with advanced prostate cancer, and data supports its use in metastatic disease and in conjunction with surgery or radiation in specific settings. Alternatives to standard androgen deprivation therapy, such as intermittent androgen suppression and estrogen therapy, hold the potential to improve toxicity profiles while maintaining clinical benefit. Current androgen deprivation strategies seem to incompletely suppress androgen levels and androgen-receptor-mediated effects at the tissue level. Advances in the understanding of mechanisms that contribute to castration-resistant prostate cancer are leading to rationally designed therapies targeting androgen metabolism and the androgen receptor. The results of large trials investigating the optimization of primary androgen deprivation therapy, including evaluation of intermittent androgen suppression and estrogen patch assessment, as well as phase III studies of novel androgen synthesis inhibitors, such as abiraterone acetate, are eagerly awaited.* Correspondence Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 Northeast Pacific, Seattle, WA 98195, USA, rbmontgo@u.washington.edu. Medscape, LLC is pleased to provide online continuing medical education (CME) for this journal article, allowing clinicians the opportunity to earn CME credit. Medscape, LLC is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide CME for physicians. Medscape, LLC designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. All other clinicians completing this activity will be issued a certificate of participation. To receive credit, please go to http://www.medscape.com/cme/ncp and complete the post-test.Competing interests PS Nelson has declared associations with the following company/organization: GlaxoSmithKline. B Montgomery has declared an association with the following company/organization: Cougar Biotechnology. See the article online for full details of the relationships. WP Harris and EA Mostaghel declared no competing interests.

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RNAi-mediated knockdown of AURKB and EGFR shows enhanced therapeutic efficacy in prostate tumor regression

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