Targeting prostate cancer based on signal transduction and cell cycle pathways

Prostate cancer remains a leading cause of death in men despite increased capacity to diagnose at earlier stages. After prostate cancer has become hormone independent, which often occurs after hormonal ablation therapies, it is difficult to effectively treat. Prostate cancer may arise from mutations and dysregulation of various genes involved in regulation signal transduction (e.g., PTEN, Akt, etc) and the cell cycle (e.g., p53, p21Cip1, p27Kip1, Rb, etc.). This review focuses on the aberrant interactions of signal transduction and cell cycle genes products and how they can contribute to prostate cancer and alter therapeutic effectiveness.