New treatment options for patients with metastatic prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. When metastasised (40% of patients), classic anti-androgen therapy is the first-line treatment. Usually, this treatment becomes ineffective when castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) develops. Thus far, docetaxel was the only chemotherapeutic option that has shown to be able to extend overall survival and improve quality of life in these patients. Recently, cabazitaxel and abiraterone have shown significant survival benefits for patients progressive on or after docetaxel treatment, as did enzalutamide and radium-223. In North America, immune therapy (sipuleucel-T) became available for a subgroup of CRPC patients. These new treatment options will change the treatment paradigm of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. A multidisciplinary approach by both medical oncologists and urologists seems mandatory.