Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) - Volume 9, Issue 10, 2009

Prostate cancer is the leading non-cutaneous cancer among American men. While most prostate cancers are diagnosed in the early stages and are potentially curable, a subset of men will experience biochemical relapse or manifest with metastatic disease. Treatment of metastatic prostate cancer continues to be an area of increased unmet need. As such, novel therapeutic agents are being developed. Up until recently, hor Read More

Prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous cancer among men in the United States. Most will be diagnosed at an early stage, but a significant number will still develop metastatic castration resistant disease. Docetaxel has demonstrated improved quality of life and overall survival in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer but virtually all patients will ultimately become refractory to taxane therapy. Second-li Read More

Prostate cancer is a major cause of cancer-related death in men. Prostate cancer is an androgen-responsive tumor and the treatment of advanced prostate cancer involves hormonal therapy. First-line treatment for advanced prostate cancer is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), usually with agents that suppress gonadotropins through a pituitary mechanism. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists and antagonists both sup Read More

The use of vaccines as a potential therapeutic modality for the treatment of cancer has been extensively studied. Recent advances include identification and characterization of tumor-associated antigens, novel vaccine delivery systems, and the combination of vaccines with immune stimulants and other therapeutic modalities. Immunotherapy as a modality for treatment of prostate cancer has received significant att Read More

Thalidomide is emerging as a potentially important therapeutic option in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. Although the mechanism of action of this agent remains elusive in malignancies of the prostate, recent data has indicated that thalidomide may play a role in inflammation, immunomodulation, and anti-angiogenesis. Lenalidomide (CC-5013), a thalidomide analogue with improved activity and safety profile in Read More

For many men, prostate cancer is an indolent disease that, even without definitive therapy, may have no impact on their quality of life or overall survival. However for those men who are either diagnosed with or eventually develop metastatic disease, prostate cancer is a painful and universally fatal disease. Testosterone-lowering hormonal therapy may control the disease for some time, but patients eventually develo Read More

Bone is the most common site for metastasis of advanced prostate cancers. Once housed in the skeleton, tumors are incurable and cause protracted morbidity, and bone metastases may contribute to mortality through unknown mechanisms. Bone provides a unique microenvironment whose local interactions with tumor cells offer novel targets for therapeutic interventions. Many standard cancer treatments cause bone Read More

Prostate cancer is a significant public health problem around the world. Once a patient has disease that is no longer addressable by local means, the cancer is considered incurable. Therapeutic goals at this point include not only extension of survival but also alteration of the natural history which may otherwise lead to significant pain and morbidity from the disease process- all related to metastases. While effective systemic Read More

Cancer stem cells are the sub-population of cells present within tumors responsible for tumorigenesis. These cells have unique biological properties including self-renewal and the ability to differentiate. Furthermore, it is thought that these cells are more resistant to conventional chemotherapy and, as a result, are responsible for patient relapse. We will discuss the identification of prostate cancer stem cells, their unique properti Read More

Improvement in the outcome of cancer patients who are refractory to currently available treatments relies on the development of target-directed therapies. One group of molecular targets with potential clinical relevance is a set of protein tyrosine kinases encoded mostly by proto-oncogenes and that are frequently deregulated in cancer. Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), a serine/threonine protein kinase, has emerged as Read More

Lymphoid malignancies may affect the eye either as primary intraocular lymphomas (PIOL), or by secondary involvement of a nodal lymphoma. PIOL is a subtype of primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma and in up to 98% of the cases are non- Hodgkin's B cell lymphomas. PIOL may occur in isolation, without involvement of the CNS. They may affect both the vitreous and the retina, while secondary invasion pred Read More