Targeted Therapies: Novel Treatment Strategies for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer (PC) is increasingly becoming a clinical health concern among men, worldwide, and the dominant cancer type among male individuals in South Africa. Despite the advanced knowledge acquired over the years to understand the nature of the disease, the desperate need for novel treatment therapy to evade the progression of the disease remains. Moreover, in sub-Saharan Africa, patients present at late stage with advanced disease. Numerous systematic therapeutic options, currently available for PC as first-line treatments, have significantly shown tremendous prognostic outcomes. Even though these therapeutic approaches seem to be efficacious initially, patients often confer resistance to treatment and progress to advanced disease, castration-resistant prostate cancer. Currently, novel molecular target therapies that could block specific molecules and signaling pathways are increasingly being studied for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). While there are a number of them being FDA-approved after demonstrating reassuring results in mCRPC, some are still underway in clinical trials and have the potential to significantly alter the landscape treatment of mCRPC. In this chapter, we will highlight the currently available targeted therapies for PC and their significant role in disease remission. We will also discuss the clinical trials that are currently underway, aiming to target genetic and proteomic alterations that are involved in mCRPC and treatment resistance.