Testosterone in Treating Patients With Progressive Prostate Cancer That No Longer Responds to Hormone Therapy

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Histologically confirmed androgen independent metastatic prostate cancer

Progressive disease manifested by either:

New osseous lesions by bone scan or a greater than 25% increase in bidimensionally measurable soft tissue disease or the appearance of new sites of disease by MRI or CT scan OR
Minimum of 3 rising PSA values from baseline that are obtained 1 week or more apart, or 2 rising PSA values more than 1 month apart, where the percentage increase over the range of values is at least 25%

Castrate state by orchiectomy or gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues for minimum of 1 year

Testosterone no greater than 30 ng/mL
Measurable disease
Metastatic disease by bone scan, MRI, or CT scan
Rising PSA values
If receiving antiandrogen therapy, must have shown progressive disease off treatment
No active CNS or epidural tumor

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

18 and over

Performance status:

Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy:

Not specified

Hematopoietic:

WBC at least 3,500/mm^3
Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

Bilirubin less than 2.0 mg/dL
SGOT less than 3 times upper limit of normal
PTT less than 14 seconds

Renal:

Creatinine less than 2.0 mg/dL OR
Creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min

Cardiovascular:

No New York Heart Association class III or IV cardiac disease

Pulmonary:

No severe debilitating pulmonary disease

Other:

No infection requiring IV antibiotics
No other severe medical problems that would increase risk for toxicity

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

Recovered from prior biologic therapy
No concurrent immunotherapy

Chemotherapy:

Recovered from prior chemotherapy
No concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

See Disease Characteristics
If no prior orchiectomy, must continue on gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs to maintain castrate levels of testosterone
No concurrent finasteride
No other concurrent hormonal therapy

Radiotherapy:

Recovered from prior radiotherapy
No concurrent radiotherapy to an indicator lesion

Surgery:

See Disease Characteristics
Recovered from prior surgery
No concurrent surgery on only measurable lesion

Other:

At least 4 weeks since other prior investigational anticancer drugs and recovered
No other concurrent investigational anticancer agents