Docetaxel-based therapy for prostate cancer

Abstract

Patients with metastatic prostate cancer can be treated with androgen deprivation strategies; however, the vast majority of patients will eventually develop androgen-independent prostate cancer. Early clinical trials with chemotherapy in advanced prostate cancer were disappointing. The last decade witnessed the approval of mitoxantrone with glucocorticoids based on palliation of symptoms without improvement in survival. Recently, two large Phase III trials demonstrated a survival advantage for docetaxel-based regimens compared with mitoxantrone with prednisone. This firmly established docetaxel-based therapies as the standard of care for patients with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer. In addition, this foundation provides a platform for the translation of novel agents into new combination cancer therapies. This article aims not only to review standard docetaxel-based treatment for androgen-independent prostate cancer, but also to present some of the promising new drug combinations with docetaxel currently being studied for the treatment of prostate cancer.