Therapeutic targets for metastatic prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-cutaneous cancer in adult males. Although prostate cancer that is confined to the gland can be cured in many patients using surgery or radiation, these treatments are only effective for localized tumors and the long-term failure rates for these treatments suggests that prostate cancer can metastasize relatively early in the course of the disease. Once prostate cancer has metastasized there are no curative therapies. The greatest challenge in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer is to access and eliminate metastatic cells. Therefore, effective prostate cancer therapy will require novel strategies to target cancer cells both at the site of the primary tumor and at distant metastatic sites. In this article we review several therapeutic targets and approaches that may provide new treatments for metastatic prostate cancer. We discuss the use of small molecules to target specific molecular events associated with metastatic prostate cancer, the use of specific antibodies that target unique metastasis associated molecules and the use of various gene therapy strategies to achieve anti-metastatic activities.