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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Feb 28.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Urol. 2016 Oct 25;14(2):107–119. doi: 10.1038/nrurol.2016.199

Figure 3. Effects of statin use during the clinical course of prostate cancer.

Figure 3

The clinical course of prostate cancer can be followed using measurements of serum PSA levels, serving as a marker of tumour burden. Rising PSA levels indicate prostate cancer growth and clinical diagnosis. Primary therapy (for example, surgery or radiation) causes a rapid drop in PSA level, showing tumour removal or eradication. Prostate cancer recurrence is detected by rising PSA level after primary treatment. Subsequent androgen deprivation therapy initially results in a reduction in tumour burden and PSA level but most patients eventually develop castration-resistant prostate cancer. Currently, castration-resistant disease cannot be cured and these patients will eventually die of their disease. Statins have been shown to have a protective role at various stages of the clinical course of prostate cancer.