An Overview of Androgen Receptor Therapy in nmCRPC

Alicia K. Morgans, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, gives an overview of androgen receptor therapy in men with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC).

According to Morgans, androgen receptor therapy is a commonly used hormonal therapy in men with mmCRPC. Newer androgen receptor agents are typically given in combination with GNRH agonist or antagonists.

This combination can cause profound hypogonadism, according to Morgans. This is due to the fact that both GNRH agonists and antagonists lower testosterone levels. Additionally, androgen receptor therapies block testosterone signaling at the level of the cell. This shut down of testosterone signally creates difficulty in the growth of prostate cancer cells, said Morgans.

0:08 | Androgen receptor inhibitor treatment is actually a very widely used approach, applying hormonal therapy to men with prostate cancer. Usually the newer agents that we use most commonly are actually given in combination with GNRH agonists or antagonists. And together that combination causes really profound hypogonadism, or low testosterone signaling, both because the GNRH agonist or antagonists lower testosterone levels, but also because the antigen receptor signaling agents or inhibitors actually blocked testosterone signaling at the level of the cell. So ultimately it basically just shuts down testosterone signaling really in a dramatic way and it causes prostate cancer cells to have a lot of difficulty growing.