New approaches in hormone refractory prostate cancer

Effective therapeutic options have not existed for prostate cancer progressing after androgen deprivation therapy until very recently. Docetaxel based chemotherapy has been demonstrated to extend survival in 2 large randomized trials. These studies have provided the impetus to combine docetaxel with novel biologic agents to further consolidate the gains in long-term outcome. With the arrival of exciting agents including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, bone-targeted drugs, antisense oligonucleotides, antiangiogenic drugs, and small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the future of prostate cancer therapy appears promising.