Potential synergistic implications for stromal-targeted radiopharmaceuticals in bone-metastatic prostate cancer.

Genetic heterogeneity and chemotherapy-resistant 'stem cells' represent two of the most pressing issues in devising new strategies for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Though curative strategies have long been present for men with localized disease, metastatic prostate cancer is currently incurable. Though substantial improvements in outcomes are now possible through the utilization of newly approved therapies, novel combinations are clearly needed. Herein we describe potentially synergistic interactions between bone stromal-targeted radiopharmaceuticals and other therapies for treatment of bone-metastatic prostate cancer. Radiation has long been known to synergize with cytotoxic chemotherapies and recent data also suggest the possibility of synergy when combining radiation and immune-based strategies. Combination therapies will be required to substantially improve survival for men with castrate-resistant metastatic prostate cancer and we hypothesize that bone-targeted radiopharmaceuticals will play an important role in this process.