Management of hormone refractory prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
This review highlights the most interesting developments and outstanding issues surrounding the management of hormone-refractory prostate cancer published in the medical literature during the past year.


RESULTS
Recent research has reported poor health-related quality-of-life outcomes for patient with hormone-refractory prostate cancer treated in standard clinical practices. In addition, age-related differences in survival appear to exist for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Two potential future therapies for hormone-refractory prostate cancer, sipuleucel-T and the combination regimen of docetaxel and DN-101, demonstrate promising preliminary clinical data in terms of improving survival while minimizing toxicity. A variety of novel agents has been tested for hormone-refractory prostate cancer, including pertuzumab and BMS-275291, which may stabilize disease with minimal toxicity. In terms of bone-related health, skeletal-related events have been found to be associated with worse survival and health-related quality of life outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Data reported during the past year have implications for future research directions. This direction includes the need for continued exploration of health-related quality of life and age-related outcomes, further study of the disease-stabilizing effects of novel therapies and their translation into improved survival, as well as directed efforts to continue preventing skeletal-related events, which may impact survival and health-related quality of life.
Lin
Amy M
AM
UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, California 94115, USA. amlin@medicine.ucsf.edu
Small
Eric J
EJ
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009376:Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents