Prostate Cancer Drug Treatments

Prostate cancer affects the prostate, which is an organ in men's reproduction system responsible for providing fluid in semen. Symptoms of prostate cancer include difficulty urinating, problems getting an erection and/or blood in the urine or semen. Prostate cancer is often treated with surgery, but there are also a number of medications that are used for chemotherapy and hormone therapy.

Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone Agonists

• Luteinizing Hormone Releasing Hormone (LH-RH) agonists are utilized during hormone therapy treatments to stop the testicles from making testosterone, which helps cancerous cells grow. Some LH-RH agonists that are used are Lupron, Viadur and Zoladex.

Anti-Androgens

• Anti-androgens are also used during hormone therapy treatments. They are utilized to stop cancerous cells from being able to utilize testosterone. These medications are often given when LH-RH agonists are not able to prevent the adrenal glands from making testosterone.

Antineoplastics

• Antineoplastics are drugs used during chemotherapy to keep neoplasms, or tumors, in the prostate from growing and spreading. Mitozantrone is an antineoplastic that is used to stop bone metastasis, which occurs when cancer spreads to other parts of the body. Another antineoplastic, Doxorubicin helps damage the nuclei of cancerous tumors.

Taxanes

• Taxanes are able to keep microtubules from being used and broken down by cancer cells, which are inhibited from undergoing division and growth processes. Two types of taxanes commonly used to treat prostate cancer are Paclitaxel and Docetaxel.

Alkylating Agents

• Alkylating agents are able to stop the growth of cancerous cells in the prostate by disrupting cell processes, such as DNA synthesis and transcription. Estramustine phosphate is a type of alkylating agent used to damage to the DNA of cancerous cells.