title: The role of doxorubicin and epirubicin in the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
abstract: Advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) is characterized by prevalently osteoblastic bone metastases which are what mostly affect these patients' quality of life and make the assessment of response to treatment particularly difficult by commonly used criteria. HRPC cannot be cured by any available therapeutic option, and chemotherapy has to be still considered as a palliative treatment. The anthracyclines doxorubicin (Dox) and epirubicin (Epi), alone or in combination with other agents, have been extensively used in the treatment of HRPC, but controversial results have been reported. The majority of reviewed studies reported a pain reduction in >50% of patients receiving Dox or Epi, suggesting a substantial palliative effect by their use in metastatic HRPC. The weekly schedule of anthracyclines seemed to achieve similar results to the 3-weekly schedule but with a better toxicity profile. Although the toxic adverse effects were usually manageable when anthracyclines were combined with other agents, toxicity was severe by a number of aggressive regimens. Docetaxel is today approved for the treatment of HRPC, and must be considered the standard platform on which new agents may be combined. Given that HRPC includes a heterogeneous group of patients with variable rates of tumour growth, the combination of docetaxel with active agents such as anthracyclines may deserve further clinical investigation.
authors.affiliation: Medical Oncology Section, Department of Pharmacology G: Segre, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci 11, 53100 Siena, Italy. r.petrioli@ao-siena.toscana.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petrioli
authors.forename: Anna Ida
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Fiaschi
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Francini
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascucci
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Francini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D015251:Epirubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D015251:Epirubicin; D004317:Doxorubicin; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen