For men with metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer, treatment with Taxotere (docetaxel) and prednisone has been shown to improve survival. But few treatment strategies are available if this first-line therapy fails. Second-line therapy of anti-cancer agent Jevtana with the steroid medicine prednisone is currently used, with favorable data reported in 2010. However, new options are still needed to improve patients’ survival.
In the international AFFINITY trial, researchers assessed whether adding custirsen to Jevtana after failure with first-line Taxotere would improve survival in the overall patient group and within subgroups with poor-prognosis. Recent results from the AFFINITY Phase 3 trial shows that combining custirsen (OGX-011) with Jevtana (cabazitaxel) and prednisone does not improve survival of metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (PC) patients who progressed after prior Taxotere (docetaxel) treatment.
Custirsen inhibits the production of clusterin, a stress-induced glycoprotein (a protein with a carbohydrate attached to it) that prevents cell death. Levels of clusterin are increased in some forms of cancer, including prostate cancer. Importantly, clusterin has been associated with treatment resistance.
Therefore, in light of the results above, treatment with Jevtana and prednisone “remains the standard of care for patients with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer progressing after Taxotere chemotherapy. For details see the following link.