Although a de novo clinical presentation of small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the prostate is rare, a subset of patients previously diagnosed with prostate adenocarcinoma may develop neuroendocrine features in later stages of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) progression as a result of treatment resistance. Despite sharing clinical, histologic, and some molecular features with other neuroendocrine carcinomas, including small cell lung cancer, castration-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer (CRPC-NE) is clonally derived from prostate adenocarcinoma. CRPC-NE therefore retains early prostate cancer genomic alterations and acquires new molecular changes making them resistant to traditional CRPC therapies. This review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of CRPC-NE biology, the transdifferentiation/plasticity process, and development and characterization of relevant CRPC-NE preclinical models.
CITATION STYLE
Puca, L., Vlachostergios, P. J., & Beltran, H. (2019). Neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer: Emerging biology, models, and therapies. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a030593
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