Cell Plasticity-Related Phenotypes and Taxanes Resistance in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

The prostatic tumor cells plasticity is involved in resistance to hormone-therapy, allowing these cells to survive despite androgen receptor inhibition. However, its role in taxanes resistance has not been fully established. Gene expression of plasticity-related phenotypes such as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stem cell-like and neuroendocrine (NE) phenotypes was studied , , in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) (=22) and in tumor samples (=117) from taxanes-treated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients.