Antisense therapy: current status in prostate cancer and other malignancies

Recent technological advances now allowing both large scale data generation and its in-depth analysis have opened new avenues to identify and target genes involved in neoplastic transformation and tumor progression. This accelerated identification and characterization of cancer-relevant molecular targets has sparked considerable interest in the development of new generations of anti-cancer agents. It is anticipated, that these agents will show enhanced specificity for malignant cells and a more favorable side-effect profile due to well-defined and tailored modes of action. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are short synthetic stretches of chemically modified DNA capable of specifically hybridizing to the mRNA of a chosen cancer-relevant target gene are close, after decades of challenges, close to fulfilling their promise in the clinical setting. Emerging clinical evidence supports the notion that ASOs stand a realistic chance of developing into one of the main players of rationally designed anti-cancer agents, although certainly not all of the challenges have been met to date. The status of antisense targeting of genes relevant to prostate cancer, including bcl-2, bcl-xL, clusterin, androgen receptor (AR) and IGFBPs, are reviewed.