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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

A Bioluminescent and Fluorescent Orthotopic Syngeneic Murine Model of Androgen-dependent and Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
07:25

A Bioluminescent and Fluorescent Orthotopic Syngeneic Murine Model of Androgen-dependent and Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer

Published on: March 6, 2018

Antitumor activity with CYP17 blockade indicates that castration-resistant prostate cancer frequently remains hormone

Gerhardt Attard1, Alison H M Reid, David Olmos

  • 1Section of Medicine, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Cancer Research
|June 11, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Abiraterone acetate effectively treats advanced prostate cancer by inhibiting CYP17, an enzyme crucial for hormone production. This finding reclassifies castration-resistant prostate cancer as hormone-dependent, opening new therapeutic avenues.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Endocrinology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Advanced prostate cancer often becomes resistant to standard endocrine therapies.
  • Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) has historically been misclassified as hormone-resistant.
  • Androgen and estrogen biosynthesis are key pathways in prostate cancer progression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the efficacy and safety of abiraterone acetate, a CYP17 inhibitor, in patients with advanced prostate cancer.
  • To investigate the hormonal dependence of castration-resistant prostate cancer.
  • To identify potential biomarkers for patient selection in future CYP17-targeted therapies.

Main Methods:

  • Abiraterone acetate administration to patients with advanced prostate cancer.
  • Clinical trial design to assess antitumor activity and safety.
  • Biomarker analysis, including ETS gene fusion status.

Main Results:

  • Abiraterone acetate demonstrated clinically significant antitumor activity in up to 70% of patients with CRPC.
  • Specific inhibition of CYP17 was found to be safe.
  • CRPC was confirmed to be frequently hormone-dependent, not refractory.

Conclusions:

  • Abiraterone acetate is an effective treatment for advanced prostate cancer, challenging the notion of hormone resistance.
  • The classification of CRPC should be revised to reflect its continued hormone dependence.
  • Biomarker studies, such as ETS gene fusion analysis, can help enrich patient populations for targeted CYP17 inhibition therapies.

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