Prostate cancer progression and metastasis: potential regulatory pathways for therapeutic targeting

Skeletal metastasis in advanced prostate cancer (PCa) patients remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Research utilizing animal models during the past decade has reached a consensus that PCa progression and distant metastasis can be tackled at the molecular level. Although there are a good number of models that have shown to facilitate the study of PCa initiation and progression at the primary site, models that mimic the distant dissemination of cancer cells, particularly bone metastasis, are scarce. Despite this limitation, the field has gleaned valuable knowledge on the underlying molecular mechanisms and pathways of PCa progression, including local invasion and distant metastasis, and has moved forward in developing the concepts of current therapeutic modalities. The purpose of this review is to put together recent work on pathways that are currently being targeted for therapy, as well as other prospective novel therapeutic targets to be developed in the future against metastatic and potentially lethal PCa in patients.