In advanced stages of prostate cancer, the majority of tumours progress to a hormone-refractory stage characterized by the failure of classical androgen ablation therapies . Imatinib mesylate, a chemotherapeutic drug that inhibits the tyrosine kinase activity of c-KIT receptor, has been successfully used to treat leukemias and some solid tumors, but its application in hormone-refractory prostate cancer phase (HRPC) had only modest effects.