Importance of the field: Treatment options for patients with advanced prostate cancer (PCa) remain limited. Improved understanding of the underlying molecular drivers of prostate cancer pathogenesis, progression and resistance development has provided the fundamental basis for rational targeted drug design.
Areas covered in this review: This review will discuss the most recent developments in the field of prostate cancer therapies including key findings such as the identification of ETS gene rearrangements, the dissection of prostate cancer molecular heterogeneity and the discovery that castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) remains androgen-driven despite the androgen-depleted milieu, thus making androgen receptor signaling a continued focus of molecularly targeted treatments. A multitude of new molecularly targeted agents are in clinical development and are highly likely to change the current treatment paradigm.
What the reader will gain: This review will outline the current clinical development of molecular targeted treatments in CRPC.
Take home message: Unraveling the complex molecular biology that underpins this heterogeneous disease may pave the way to personalized therapy with a wide range of rationally targeted agents and combination treatments. In conclusion, we can predict that the rational clinical development of new targeted drugs will improve the outcome of men with prostate cancer in the years ahead.