Recent advances in basic and clinical prostate cancer research

In the past 3 years, we have seen a persistent decline in the incidence in the United States of prostate cancer. Nonetheless, prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S, males, and it is the second leading cause of male cancer deaths in this country. At this time, our understanding of the biology of this complex disease is far from complete, and, relative to other diseases with similar prevalence, such as breast cancer and AIDS, prostate cancer research receives far less in federal research funds. However, prostate cancer continues to be an active area of both basic and clinical research, and several important advances have occurred in the past few years. Due to the brief nature of this review, we will not discuss these advances in detail, and not every finding in the field has been included. Rather, we have chosen to highlight the major areas of research interest and to provide the reader with appropriate direction toward recent contributions in these areas. Cancer 1998;83:1730-3. (C) 1998 American Cancer Society.