Once metastatic prostate cancer progresses in the face of hormonal therapy, it is classified as being hormone-refractory. Therapeutic options for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer are extremely limited; in particular, cytotoxic chemotherapy has repeatedly failed to demonstrate activity in this disease. Recently, Scher and colleagues have reported that the discontinuation of flutamide in patients whose prostate cancer is progressing despite total androgen blockade may occasionally result in disease regression. We evaluated this clinical maneuver in two trials (in one we discontinued flutamide alone and in the other we discontinued flutamide and simultaneously initiated aminoglutethimide). Our preclinical efforts in the field of prostate cancer have focused on the evaluation of the single point mutation in the androgen receptor of the LNCaP cells, which is thought to cause the phenomenon associated with flutamide discontinuation. Other activities in which the section is involved include the evaluation of new agents (or combinations) in in vitro models (assessing growth inhibition and the effect of those agents on PSA production in several prostate cancer cell lines) , as well as the clinical assessment of new agents (somatuline, tamoxifen, and suramin)
