Landmarks in hormonal therapy for prostate cancer

摘要

It is >70 years since the responsiveness of symptomatic metastatic prostate cancer to androgen deprivation was first demonstrated. Since those pivotal studies, progress in hormonal therapy of prostate cancer has been marked by several important developments and the availability of various androgen-suppressing agents. Treatment guidelines have continued to evolve with clinical and therapeutic progress, but androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) remains the standard of care for non-localised prostate cancer. Because of the long-term experience (>20 years) and wealth of evidence from the large number of clinical trials, the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists are currently the main forms of ADT. Treatment strategies should be adapted to the individual patient in terms of timing, duration and choice of agent. Prostate cancer remains the most common type of cancer in men and the development of castration-resistant disease seems inevitable, which together drive the clear and continuing need for new, effective agents for ADT to be used alongside the LHRH agonists.