Therapeutic strategies for bone metastases and their clinical sequelae in prostate cancer

Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2012 Jun;13(2):174-88. doi: 10.1007/s11864-012-0190-8.

Abstract

Skeletal metastases threaten quality of life, functionality, and longevity in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Therapeutic strategies for bone metastases in prostate cancer can palliate pain, delay/prevent skeletal complications, and prolong survival. Pharmacologic agents representing several drug classes have demonstrated the ability to achieve these treatment goals in men with mCRPC. Skeletal-related events such as fracture and the need for radiation can be delayed using drugs that target the osteoclast/osteoblast pathway. Cancer-related bone pain can be palliated using beta-emitting bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals such as samarium-153 EDTMP and strontium-89. Also, prospective randomized studies have demonstrated that cytotoxic chemotherapy can palliate bone pain. For the first time, bone-directed therapy has been shown to prolong survival using the novel alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical radium-223. Given these multifold clinical benefits, treatments targeting bone metabolism, tumor-bone stromal interactions, and bone metastases themselves are now central elements of routine clinical care. Decisions about which agents, alone or in combination, will best serve the patient's and clinician's clinical goals is contingent on the treatment history to date, present disease manifestations, and symptomatology. Clinical trials exploring novel agents such as those targeting c-Met and Src are under way, using endpoints that directly address how patients feel, function, and survive.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Bone Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Bone Neoplasms / radiotherapy
  • Bone Neoplasms / secondary
  • Denosumab
  • Diphosphonates / therapeutic use
  • Fractures, Bone / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • Imidazoles / therapeutic use
  • Male
  • Organometallic Compounds / therapeutic use
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / therapeutic use
  • Pain Management
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Strontium / therapeutic use
  • Zoledronic Acid

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Diphosphonates
  • Imidazoles
  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Organophosphorus Compounds
  • Denosumab
  • Zoledronic Acid
  • samarium Sm-153 lexidronam
  • strontium chloride
  • Strontium