Selecting Therapy for Patients with CRPC

William Kevin Kelly, DO, professor of medical oncology and urology, Thomas Jefferson University, discusses the possibility of preselecting which castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients will be sensitive to chemotherapy or hormone therapy.

Clinical Pearls:

• There are a number of small trials that are looking at androgen levels by using sensitive assays and spectroscopy to determine if there are any residual androgens
• Researchers are also looking at the cellular level, to see if the androgen receptor pathway is active by looking at the retinoblastoma gene, which can determine if patients will be sensitive to chemotherapy or other agents
• These tools can be integrated into clinical trials