[Value of targeted therapy for prostate cancer]

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignancy of the male population. Every year in Germany approximately 12,000 patients die of their hormone-refractory prostate cancer even though early detection is able to find more curable prostate cancers. In a hormone-refractory stage we only have limited options for treatment. Although docetaxel is currently the standard of care in most hormone-refractory prostate cancers, it is not the magic therapy that will dramatically change the patient's poor survival. This drug provides an overall survival advantage of 2 months. During recent years, significant progress has been made in the field of molecular therapy in urologic oncology. Targeted therapy leads to an inhibition of angiogenesis and proliferation in malignant tumors. Even if there is a great theoretical potential, mono- and combination therapies with target substances are not relevant in the clinical routine.