Hormone Therapy and Radiation Therapy or Hormone Therapy and Radiation Therapy Followed by Docetaxel and Prednisone in Treating Patients With Localized Prostate Cancer

RATIONALE: Androgens can cause the growth of prostate cancer cells. Hormone therapy using drugs, such as leuprolide, goserelin, flutamide, or bicalutamide, may fight prostate cancer by lowering the amount of androgens the body makes. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel and prednisone, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. It is not yet known whether giving hormone therapy and radiation therapy together with chemotherapy is more effective than giving hormone therapy together with radiation therapy in treating prostate cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying hormone therapy and radiation therapy followed by docetaxel and prednisone to see how well it works compared to hormone therapy and radiation therapy in treating patients with localized prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Compare the relative efficacy, in terms of overall survival, of the combination of androgen suppression and radiotherapy versus androgen suppression and radiotherapy followed by docetaxel and prednisone in patients with localized, high-risk prostate cancer. Secondary * Compare the disease-free survival and incidence of adverse events in patients treated with these regimens. * Compare the biochemical control, local control, and freedom from distant metastases in patients treated with these regimens. * Determine the validity of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-defined endpoints as a surrogate for overall survival of patients treated with these regimens. * Compare the time interval between biochemical failure and distant metastases with respect to testosterone level in patients treated with these regimens. OUTLINE: This is an open-label, randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to risk group. * Arm I: Patients receive androgen suppression therapy comprising luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist (e.g., leuprolide acetate, goserelin, buserelin, or triptorelin) and oral antiandrogen (i.e., oral flutamide 3 times daily for 2 months or oral bicalutamide once daily for 2 months). Beginning at week 8, patients undergo radiotherapy 5 days a week for approximately 8 weeks. Antiandrogen therapy is discontinued at completion of radiotherapy, but LHRH agonist therapy continues for 20 months. * Arm II: Patients receive androgen suppression therapy and undergo radiotherapy as in arm I. Beginning 4 weeks after completion of radiotherapy, patients receive docetaxel IV over 1 hour on day 1 and oral prednisone daily on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients continue LHRH agonist therapy as in arm I. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 600 patients will be accrued for this study.