Monitoring Therapy Resistance in Advanced Prostate Cancer Using Liquid Biopsies

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most diagnosed cancer in men worldwide, with an estimated 1.4 million diagnoses. In 2020, over 375,000 men worldwide died from PCa. The initial steps for diagnosing PCa include a serum PSA test and a DRE. If PCa is suspected, tissue biopsies are performed for pathological confirmation. Today, MRI is increasingly utilized for diagnosing PCa due to its high sensitivity and specificity in identifying and localizing prostate abnormalities. The shift towards personalized healthcare has led to the emergence of novel PCa-specific therapies, such as targeted radioligand therapies, which deliver radiation directly to cancer cells with minimal impact on surrounding healthy tissue. Advances in immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors and cancer vaccines, are also promising avenues for the clinical management of PCa. Additionally, new generations of hormone therapies are significantly more effective at disrupting androgen signaling, a critical pathway for the growth of PCa.