Androgen receptors in early and castration resistant prostate cancer: friend or foe?

摘要

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies and causes of death among men in western societies. It has thus attracted the interest of the scientific community, which has resulted in great improvements in survival rates in recent years. As early as the 1940s, Huggins and Hodges first demonstrated that prostate cancer is androgen dependent,¹ initiating the wide use of androgen deprivation as an adjuvant therapy. Similarly, during the late 70’s the clinical significance of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) was shown, resulting in early disease detection and monitoring of its evolution. Despite these significant achievements, a major persistent therapeutic challenge remains in prostate cancer: the discovery of new treatment strategies for the disease when hormone resistance sooner or later develops (castration resistant prostate cancer, CRPC). This presupposes a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in androgens actions in prostate cancer. In the following sections we will present an overview of our knowledge accumulated to date on the role of androgen receptor in prostate cancer. Its different modes of action and their therapeutic value will be analyzed.