Markers of androgen-independent progression of prostatic carcinoma.

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality in men in the United States. The evolution from a localized to a metastatic phenotype coupled with the progression from an androgen-dependent (AD) to an androgen-independent (AI) state leads to a universally fatal disease. Identifying the biologic characteristics associated with PCa progression is a major goal of current research efforts by different groups, in the hope to better predict the natural history of the disease in an individual patient and to design treatments based on the specific biologic behavior.