Understanding What Are Circulating Tumor Cells And What Is Their Role In Prostate Cancer Treatment

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is an area we will continue to hear more about as their importance to our understanding prostate cancer continues to increase.   CTCs show the movement of cancer cells though the body. It is believed that these CTCs are the method that cancer uses to spread through our body (metastasize). Measuring the [...]

Sorting Out Prostate Cancers that Are Resistant to Enzalutamide (Xtandi)

Over the last several years’ prostate cancer treatment options for men with advanced prostate cancer has gone from rags to riches.  We now have multiple options for treatment and there is every indication that the number of options will continue to grow. However, we do see that not all men will respond to all treatments.  [...]

Are You Willing to Trade some of Your Survival Time and Increase Your Risk for Bone Complications to Decrease Your Risk of Developing Bone Metastases?

Would you be willing to trade off some survival time to lower your risk of developing bone metastases (BM)?  Well, men in the UK and Sweden are willing.  Men from the UK and Sweden with castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and at high risk for developing BM because they have been on androgen-deprivation (ADT) or [...]

Impact of Prior Abiraterone Acetate (Zytiga) on Subsequent Activity of Docetaxel (Chemotherapy) in Men with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

The explosion of new therapies for men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) raises serious questions about the optimal sequencing of these new treatments as well as whether cross-resistance occurs between these drugs. It was recently reported that chemotherapy with docetaxel (D) is not effective in in men who did not have a ? [...]

CTCs As A Biomarker to Predict Survival in Men with Metastatic CRPC – Can We Be Triaged to Death?

Higher circulating tumor cell counts are associated with an increased risk of death. Men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer don’t have a good biomarker to predict survival.  According to a study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. by Amir Goldkorn, MD, and colleagues at the Keck School of Medicine of [...]

Duration of Response to Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) and Efficacy of Secondary ADT, Docetaxel and Cabazitaxel in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Men who become castrate resistant in less than 12 months from starting androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) were found to have poor efficacy with a 2nd line of ADT.  However, the development of early castrate resistance did not impair the benefit of any of the docetaxel based chemotherapy. Researchers examined the records of 132 consecutive men [...]

Tri-weekly Docetaxel Versus Bi-weekly Docetaxel as a Treatment for Advanced Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer: Quality of Life Analysis

Administering chemotherapy using docetaxel (taxotere or T) on a bi-weekly basis with prednisone improved progression free survival and overall survival when compared with the standard tri-weekly schedule for men with advanced castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) (Lancet Oncol. 2013;14:117-124). However, quality of life (QoL) differences have not been evaluated. In a trial to evaluate the [...]

Toxicity Analysis of Lymph Node Irradiation for Men with Prostate Cancer Treated with IMRT

The standard of treatment for men who have a localized recurrence in lymph nodes (LN) after surgery is intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) as well as with men who have high-risk prostate cancer which includes cancer in both the prostate and seminal vesicles (SV).  As with all treatments the use of IMRT comes with many [...]

More Issues Raised About Cross-Resistance Between Abiraterone and Enzalutamide

Some of my posts over the last week or two have discussed the issue of the development of cross-resistance of two of our newest treatments for advanced prostate cancer.  These drugs are abiraterone (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi). Currently, both of them are approved for use after a man has failed chemotherapy with docetaxel. In addition, [...]

Markers for Predicting Clinical Responses to Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) in Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer

Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) has shown in clinical trials that it prolongs overall survival (OS) in asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic men with castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Unlike many other treatments for men with CRPC there are not any reliable biomarkers to show that it is working for any individual.  There is also a lack of markers [...]

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