Cytotoxic chemotherapy for castration resistant prostate cancer: 2010 and beyond

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in men worldwide. Before docetaxel chemotherapy, no single agent demonstrated a survival advantage for men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). However, 2010 has proven to be a landmark year for prostate cancer therapy, with the results of several phase III trials demonstrating improvements in survival with novel therapies. In this review, we examine promising front-line docetaxel combination therapies for chemotherapy naïve patients and novel cytotoxic chemotherapies for patients with progressive disease. We will also highlight a clinical trial utilizing a genome based approach to evaluate the efficacy of a fourth generation platinum, satraplatin, in patients with sporadic BRCA deficient prostate cancers.