New therapeutic agents for hormone-refractory prostate cancer

The identification of active chemotherapeutic agents for use in the treatment of advanced hormone-refractory prostate cancer remains a priority of clinical research. An estimated 317,100 new cases will be diagnosed in 1996. This increased diagnosis of disease can be directly attributed to the widespread use of screening serum prostate-specific antigen. However, this has not been associated with a reduction in mortality; more than 41,000 men in the United States are expected to die of the disease this year. The natural history of hormone-resistant disease has remained unaltered, with patients having a median survival of only approximately 12 months. Use of surrogate endpoints, such as a reduction in prostate-specific antigen or improvement in pain, may be appropriate for the evaluation of novel agents or combinations. A number of promising new approaches have been recently tested and brought to trial, including combined antimicrotubular therapy, camptothecins, and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors. It is only through the development of these and other novel compounds that we can hope to affect the natural course of prostate cancer.