Response to Degarelix After Resistance to Leuprolide in a Patient With Metastatic Prostate Cancer

J Adv Pract Oncol 2012;3:299–303 Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is a common treatment for prostate cancer, as the androgen receptor (AR) plays a role in the development of this malignancy. Androgen-deprivation therapy agents can be classified as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or GnRH antagonists. The most common GnRH agents in use are the GnRH agonists. However, these agents have been associated with concerns related to periodic increases in testosterone (Van Poppel & Klotz, 2012). Because of these issues, increasing attention is being paid to the use of GnRH antagonists in ADT. In this article, we will first review the mechanism of action of the GnRH agonists and antagonists. Subsequently, we will present a discussion of the case study found on page 300. We conclude the article with clinical implications for GnRH agonist and antagonist use for oncology advanced practitioners who treat patients with prostate cancer in their practices.