Possible setback for enzalutamide and bicalutamide treatments !!

[miscdenver]

Anti-androgen therapy can fuel spread of bone tumors in advanced prostate cancer

Miniature 3D bone-like tissue models show effects of anti-androgens

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

[Tall_Allen]

Not a "possible setback." Resistance is well-known.

[LearnAll]

There is nothing new....Just a little fancy language to impress. Anti Androgens work for different individuals for different length of time. Bicalutamide fails in some men within 3 months whereas keeps working for 5 to 7 years in other men. So they are putting old wine in new bottle and calling it "Australian research at its finest." What a joke !

[miscdenver in reply to LearnAll]

Headline says 'these therapies can fuel spread' of PCa,.

And Prof Hutmacher says: "We wanted to see if the therapy could be a contributor of cancer cells' adaptive responses that fueled bone metastasis,"

So, not only that there may be resistance but that PCa goes on the offensive under these conditions with these therapies.

[kaptank]

Unfortunately all treatments fail at some time and the cancer becomes resistant. We do not understand the mechanisms well at this time. However we do know that when bicalutamide fails its mode of action changes and it actually promotes the PCa - it goes on the offensive. So if on bical, monitor very closely (say, 1 month PSA testing) and be on the lookout for a change in trend. I know of no evidence that enza does this, it just fails. Laboratory modelling is an imperfect guide to the real world in our case.

[SimonHL]

Another benefit of the research is the development of a personalized preclinical diagnostic and drug testing tool so "patients will not have to trial a succession of drugs, each of which carry the potential of severe side-effects, and which may not work for them." Their doctors will be able to use the model to find the optimum drug for each patient directly without the delay and patient suffering via the current "trial and error" approach.

[Claud68]

Thank you very much. It is very interesting for all of us looking for alternative treatments...

[spw1]

IS it any different for Zytiga? My husband has just started on Enza and already has bone mets. Reading the headline was depressing but having read the whole article and other comments on this, I am a little less anxious.

[NecessarilySo]

My take is that, as we have known for a long time, prostate cancer cells, (and breast cancer cells) mutates to hormone therapy-resistant form which can then metastasize to nearby bone as well as elsewhere. This article seems to suggest that the hormone therapy encourages such activity, but in reality, it may be that the hormone therapy does not encourage ,but rather, simply does not restrict hormone resistant cells from growing, which we already know.

[Leader4077 in reply to NecessarilySo]

Seems like Bical has been around for so long we would have seen this negative bone cancer spread issue years ago…….this drug has a part of many “standard of care” treatments for decades……….and now it can spread cancer to the bones?

[MateoBeach]

Amazing that comments are dissing this. If this holds up as a predictive model it could be useful in testing strategies that could be protective of the bone micro environment in the presence of PCA cells and anti androgens. Problem is this model is much simpler than actual living bone. ( A meadow not a cornfield, as is said.) this does suggest that the presence of these AAs actually helps facilitate the mets becoming established in bone. Even before castrate resistant perhaps? That is a different problem than the well known bicalutamide AR receptor resistance. And it is why I am on Prolia even without osteopenia in the hopes of making my bone micro environment less favorable for metastasis. ( I have no known bone mets so far.)

[Purple-Bike in reply to MateoBeach]

So there is evidence of increased bone density fending off metastasis? I will have to rigorously implement my bone-strengthening exercises

[MateoBeach in reply to Purple-Bike]

The strength of the bones is of course important in protecting against skeletal adverse event. But the changes in bone micro environment goes beyond this and modulates Co factors and signaling. This is where bone modifying meds like Prolia and Zometa contribute.