Novel targeted agents on the horizon for castration-resistant prostate cancer

Abstract

Androgen deprivation treatment in prostate cancer patients is well established; however, resistance to such treatment manifests itself by progression to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Despite significant advances in treatment options for patients with CRPC, their prognosis remains poor. Resistance results from multiple processes that facilitate cancer cell growth and survival. Mechanisms underlying the shift to castrate resistance have been attributed to a complex interplay of clonal selection, reactivation of the androgen receptor axis despite castrate levels of serum testosterone, stress-induced prosurvival genes and cytoprotective chaperone networks and alternative mitogenic growth factor pathways. This article discusses several pathways involved in the development of CRPC, with a particular focus on those mechanisms that have led to the development of new targeted therapies.