Future perspectives of prostate cancer therapy

Abstract

We summarize several recent laboratory advances to tackle the problem of tumor-stroma-immune cell microenvironment interaction with the hope of developing and advancing new concepts and therapeutic strategies for prostate cancer therapy by improving bone and soft tissue metastases in prostate cancer patients. Given the emerging enthusiasm for immunotherapy in prostate cancer due to (I) improved understanding of the role of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, (II) approval by the FDA of an immunotherapeutic drug to treat prostate cancer, and (III) recognition of immunotherapy as a novel approach to treat solid tumors by the Nobel Prize Committee (for discovery of dendritic cells that are used in immunotherapy), the field of tumor immunology is poised for growth in the next decade with the hope of developing new immunomodulatory drugs which will compliment and perhaps eventually replace traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. In this article, we provide a timely review of recent advances in the field of immunotherapy for prostate cancer, lessons learned from successes and failures, the contributory factors in the tumor microenvironment that could be rendered hostile to cancer cells, an exciting area of future research.

Figure 1

Diagrammatic illustration of therapies that target primary prostate tumor cells, CRPC, cells (stromal/endothelial/immune cells) and soluble factors in tumor microenvironment of the prostate and the bone.