Clinical implications for a treatment algorithm and differential indication to hormone therapy and chemotherapy options in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer: a personal view

Expert Rev Anticancer Ther. 2014 Nov;14(11):1283-94. doi: 10.1586/14737140.2014.965686. Epub 2014 Oct 29.

Abstract

Although docetaxel is still considered a mainstay of treatment in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), in the last few years, new agents have been developed to improve survival in this setting and reach a possible optimal personalized treatment strategy. In this paper, we provide a personal view and an algorithm for mCRPC patients, according to available evidence, personal opinion and experience. Abiratone acetate, cabazitaxel, radium-223, sipuleucel-T and enzalutamide, together with docetaxel, have demonstrated a survival benefit in these patients. The use of rechallenge with docetaxel in mCRPC patients with disease progression after a first response has been considered. These new agents complicated the scenario and posed the challenge to move from the old sequential to a new algorithm-based approach. At this stage, the algorithm is necessarily based on experts' opinion, since the efficacy of a single agent in a specific setting has not been validated by sequential trials.

Keywords: abiraterone acetate; androgen-deprivation therapy; cabazitaxel; castration-resistant prostate cancer; docetaxel; enzalutamide; radium-223; treatment algorithm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Androgen Antagonists / therapeutic use*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Docetaxel
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / diagnosis
  • Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant / drug therapy*
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / methods
  • Taxoids / therapeutic use
  • Tissue Extracts / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Androgen Antagonists
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Taxoids
  • Tissue Extracts
  • Docetaxel
  • sipuleucel-T