Long-term use of dasatinib in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer after receiving the combination of dasatinib and docetaxel

Abstract

Dasatinib is a potent oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor which targets several kinases, including the SRC family kinases. SRC family kinases have been implicated in androgen therapy resistance that often develops in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), which drives the need for non-androgen targeting therapies. This article describes the preclinical rationale for the use of combination dasatinib and docetaxel therapy in mCRPC, and highlights the results of a phase I–II trial in which 46 patients with mCRPC, treated with a regimen of dasatinib and docetaxel, demonstrated improvements in bone scans, high rates of soft tissue responses, and modulation of markers of bone turnover. This brief report discusses in detail follow-up data on two patients who remain alive after >2.5 years on dasatinib single-agent therapy after discontinuing docetaxel treatment.

Keywords:

• case study
• dasatinib
• docetaxel
• prostate cancer
• targeted therapy

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Mark A Wildgust, PhD, for his insight in the development of this article, and Christopher Logothetis, MD, for his critical scientific review of earlier drafts of this case report. Professional medical writing and editorial assistance was provided by Ami P Modi, PhD, at StemScientific, and funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS).

Disclosure

GCT and PP are BMS employees and have stock ownership in BMS. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.