Apoptosis and other mechanisms in androgen ablation treatment and androgen independent progression of prostate cancer: a review.
Patients with advanced prostate cancer commonly present with disseminated disease. For these patients, androgen ablation is a first-line treatment. This mode of therapy usually has an initially palliative effect on tumor-related symptoms and slows growth, although virtually all tumors eventually relapse to an androgen-independent, more aggressively growing phenotype. However, surprisingly little is known about the actions mediating the initial palliative effect as well as the initiation of androgen-independent tumor growth. In this review, some current concepts on mechanisms of androgen ablation treatment and androgen-independent progression of prostate cancer is highlighted. Special attention is given to the involvement of apoptosis in these processes.
Westin
P
P
Department of Pathology, University of Umeå, Sweden.
Bergh
A
A
D000726:Androgen Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis; D018450:Disease Progression; D004967:Estrogens / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
D000726:Androgen Antagonists; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D004967:Estrogens; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins