Dear Editor,

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa) are the two most common prostatic disorders affecting elderly males and represent significant burdens for health-care systems worldwide. [1] BPH and PCa exhibit important differences in terms of histology and localization, and to date, no causal relationship between the two prostatic diseases has been demonstrated, but BPH and PCa indeed share traits such as androgen-dependent growth and response to hormonal therapy. [2] Over the past decades, introducing anti-androgen drugs (e.g., 5α reductase inhibitors, 5-ARI for BPH and CYP17 inhibitors for PCa) to treat the two prostatic diseases has offered remarkable benefits. [2] Whereas, relatively little attention has been paid to whether the sole administration of anti-androgen drugs is appropriate or sufficient to obtain the maximum therapeutic effect against BPH or PCa. Thus, we write this letter to draw attention to the importance of reevaluating the effective pharmacological activity of anti-androgen drugs in treating BPH or PCa. Specifically, we will provide some recent advances exploring synergistic interventions to treat BPH or PCa via modulating autophagy, an adaptive process that enables cells to cope with metabolic, toxic and other stressors.

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