Hormonal therapy for prostate cancer: past, present and future

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in men in the USA. For the past six decades, hormonal therapy has been the main treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Hormonal therapy has developed from a surgical procedure to a complex pharmacological treatment. Trials comparing the efficacy of different monotherapies have demonstrated the equivalence of DES, LHRH agonists and orchiectomy. Combined androgen blockade has been compared with monotherapy. However, the results of the different trials have been conflicting. Novel hormonal therapy schedules involving intermittent treatment and peripheral androgen blockade are currently in clinical trials. The role of hormonal therapy in locally advanced disease as part of a multimodality therapy is a new and rapidly developing aspect of hormonal therapy. The mechanism of hormone refractoriness in prostate cancer is an active area of basic science and translational research.