Abstract
Therapeutic options for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer are increasing, spurring an urgent need to better understand which treatments are best for individual patients. The recent approval of a first-in-class agent, sipuleucel-T, has intensified this need. This therapeutic cancer vaccine has demonstrated a survival advantage in two Phase III trials, but does not alter progression in the short term. Therefore, a new therapeutic approach for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is taking shape, based on broader understanding of available therapies. This new clinical approach seeks to maximize patient benefit from treatment, minimize associated toxicities, and may have far-reaching implications for other therapeutic cancer vaccines currently in clinical development.
Acknowledgements
We thank Bonnie L Casey for editorial assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors acknowledge the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Research for their support of this study. Jeanny B Aragon-Ching has served on the Speakers’ Bureau of Sanofi-Aventis, served on the Advisory Board for Centocor Orthobiotech and has served as an investigator on a research study sponsored by Medivation. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.