Predicting response to hormonal therapy and survival in men with hormone sensitive metastatic prostate cancer

Androgen deprivation is the cornerstone of the management of metastatic prostate cancer. Despite several decades of clinical experience with this therapy there are no standard predictive biomarkers for response. Although several candidate genetic, hormonal, inflammatory, biochemical, metabolic biomarkers have been suggested as potential predictors of response and outcome, none has been prospectively validated nor has proven clinical utility to date. There is significant heterogeneity in the depth and duration of hormonal response and in the natural history of advanced disease; therefore to better optimize/individualize therapy and for future development, identification of biomarkers is critical. This review summarizes the current data on the role of several candidate biomarkers that have been evaluated in the advanced/metastatic disease setting.