Bortezomib With or Without Hormone Therapy in Treating Patients With Relapsed Prostate Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the prostate
• Relapsed disease after definitive local therapy, as documented only by a rise in prostate-specific antigen (PSA)
• * Experienced PSA relapse after definitive local therapy
• * Rising PSA (≥ 1.0 ng/mL after nadir \< 1.0 ng/mL)
• * PSA increase of ≥ 0.3 ng/mL (increase occurred between 2 separate measurements taken ≥ 4 weeks apart)
• * The first of these two PSA values must rise above a previously recorded post-therapy nadir value
• Ineligible for curative therapy
• No clinical evidence of local recurrence (i.e., palpable induration or mass in the prostatic fossa) other than PSA elevation
• No evidence of palpable disease in the prostatic bed
• No metastatic disease (M0)
• * No non-nodal (\> N1) metastasis
• * No evidence of osseous metastasis on bone scan within the past 28 days
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• Over 18
• Performance status
• ECOG 0-1
• Life expectancy
• At least 1 year
• Hematopoietic
• Platelet count ≥ 30,000/mm\^3
• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm\^3
• Hepatic
• No known hepatitis B or C positivity
• Renal
• Creatinine clearance ≥ 30 mL/min
• Immunologic
• No known human T-cell lymphotropic virus positivity
• No hypersensitivity to bortezomib, boron, or mannitol
• No known HIV 1 or 2 positivity
• No active, ongoing bacterial, viral, or fungal infection
• Other
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No peripheral neuropathy ≥ grade 2
• No other disease, condition, or social or geographic constraint that would preclude study participation
• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• Not specified
• Chemotherapy
• No concurrent chemotherapy
• Endocrine therapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 6 months since prior hormonal therapy combined with radiation therapy as definitive therapy
• Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy prior to definitive therapy (e.g., surgery, radiation therapy, brachytherapy, or cryoablation) allowed
• No other concurrent hormonal therapy
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 12 months since prior radioactive seed therapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy
• Surgery
• See Disease Characteristics
• More than 4 weeks since prior surgery
• No concurrent surgery
• Other
• No concurrent second-line herbal preparations, including PC-SPES
• No other concurrent investigational agents