Types of hormone-independent prostate cancer

Hormone-independent prostate cancer (HRPC) is one of the most common and difficult problems encountered by urological oncologists. HRPC patients have diverse clinical manifestations and great individual differences, usually including three types of patients: patients with simple high PSA levels, patients with high PSA levels and stable metastases, and patients with high PSA levels and progressive metastases.

Pathogenesis of hormone-independent prostate cancer The mechanism by which prostate cancer progresses to an androgen-independent state is not fully understood. The normal prostate epithelium is composed of several cell types that respond differently to androgen stimulation, including basal stem cells (which can differentiate into transitional cell layers that respond to androgen stimulation but do not depend on androgens for growth) and glandular epithelial cells (which are completely and must depend on androgens for growth).

Many studies have shown that different populations of cells already exist in the early stages of prostate cancer. It is still unclear which cell population is the origin of prostate cancer. The tumor may be derived from a group of basal stem cells that are sensitive to androgen; it may also be derived from cells in the transition zone, some of which differentiate into androgen-sensitive cells and others into androgen-insensitive cells.