What is a common goal of hormone therapy in treating prostate cancer?

The goal of hormone therapy in treating prostate cancer primarily revolves around decreasing testosterone levels. Prostate cancer cells often require testosterone to grow and multiply. By reducing testosterone levels, hormone therapy aims to limit the availability of this hormone, which can slow the growth of the cancer or even shrink tumors.

This approach is particularly relevant since many prostate cancers are hormone-sensitive, meaning they rely on testosterone for their growth and proliferation. Therefore, successfully lowering testosterone levels can help manage the disease and improve patient outcomes.

In contrast, increasing testosterone levels, promoting cell growth, or eliminating the prostate gland are not objectives of hormone therapy. In fact, those actions would contradict the fundamental principle of using hormone therapy to control prostate cancer by limiting the hormone that stimulates cancer cell growth.