ABSTRACT
Plumbagin ............................................................................................................................ 135 6.12 Plumbagin Nanoparticles ...................................................................................................... 136 6.13 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 136 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ 136 References ...................................................................................................................................... 136
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Prostate cancer is the fourth most common cancer, among the total cancers in both the sexes when analyzed together, and the second most common cancer in men (GLOBOCAN IARC 2012; (Ferlay et al. 2015)). In addition, cancer of the prostate is the fi fth leading cause of cancer mortality in men. Unlike many other types of cancer, prostate cancer progresses very slowly (Schmid, McNeal, and Stamey 1993). At primary stages, the prostate cells involved in cancer progression are androgen dependent, wherein androgen binds to the androgen receptor (AR) and activates
androgen-responsive elements (ARE) of the promoters of genes that are transactivated by AR. This type of prostate cancer is known as androgen-dependent prostate cancer, androgen-sensitive prostate cancer, or hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC). As the disease progresses, the prostate cancer cells do not require androgen for their growth and become androgen independent. This advanced cancer that progresses in spite of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), via mutated AR or AR-independent pathways, is known as androgen-independent prostate cancer, androgen-insensitive prostate cancer, or hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) (Arnold and Isaacs 2002; Scher and Sawyers 2005; Silvestris et al. 2005; Karantanos, Corn, and Thompson 2013). These subtypes are also termed castration-sensitive prostate cancer (CSPC) for HSPC and castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) for HRPC. The term CRPC was introduced possibly due to the insensitivity of the advanced prostate cancer to the castration methods of treatment such as reduction of available androgen, testosterone, or dihydrotestosterone or through inhibition of paracrine or intacrine androgen production by chemical or surgical means (Mostaghel et al. 2007; Saad and Hotte 2010).
