Taxane chemotherapy for hormone-naïve prostate cancer with its expanding role as breakthrough strategy

Abstract

Historically, androgen-deprivation therapy was the only primary treatment for metastatic prostate cancer. After prostate cancer develops into castration-resistant prostate cancer, there are a few life-prolonging drugs, including taxanes such as docetaxel and cabazitaxel, as well as novel androgen receptor-targeting agents such as abiraterone acetate and enzalutamide, which have been proved in clinical trials. However, the prognosis of men with castration-resistant prostate cancer is still poor. The duration from initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy to castration-resistant prostate cancer has not improved in recent decades because no novel therapeutic options have emerged. However, recently, up-front docetaxel chemotherapy has been shown to prolong progression-free as well as overall survival in men with metastatic hormone-naïve prostate cancer. This offers a new way to expand the role of chemotherapy for hormone-naïve prostate cancer. In this review, we summarize the proof-of-concept as well as the current status of taxane chemotherapy for hormone-naïve prostate cancer, focusing on phase 3 clinical trials investigating oncological outcome, and discuss the future direction in this field