Novel therapeutic molecular targets for prostate cancer: the mTOR signaling pathway and epidermal growth factor receptor.

Abstract

The scientific rationale and existing evidence for the use of novel molecular targets in the chemoprevention of cancer are reviewed, with special attention to prostate cancer. A search for relevant literature on basic science and clinical trials was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE. The emergence of molecularly targeted therapies for advanced malignancies creates an important opportunity to examine these agents for the chemoprevention of prostate cancer. Two critical targets in the proliferation and malignant transformation of normal cells, the PI3/Akt signal transduction pathway and the epidermal growth factor receptor, are currently the focus of several novel investigational therapies that are in late stage phase II and phase III studies. Research to date supports consideration of these novel molecular targets as future agents in the chemoprevention of prostate cancer.