Treatment of ovarian cancer beyond chemotherapy: cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology ,

Abstract

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the sixth most com mon cancer worldwide among women, and, in devel oped countries, it is the leading cause of mortality among gynecological malignancies. With an overall cure rate of <40 % across all stages, it comprises a variety of tumors with different histopathological features and biological behavior. Nowadays, OC is considered a general term that designates a group of molecularly and etiologically dis tinct diseases that share an anatomical location. Approx imately 70–80 % of patients with OC will relapse after first-line chemotherapy, and the majority of them will eventually die of chemotherapy-resistant disease. Until now, the management of relapsed OC remains an unmet medical need. Therapy rather depends on tumor stage and grade than on histological type, but there is growing evidence that, as epithelial OC is a heterogeneous dis ease, it needs a tailored approach based on the underly ing molecular genetic changes. Several phase III studies investigating targeted therapies are underway, and a more individual approach for treating OC will be selected in the future. The purpose of this paper was to review the lit erature in order to highlight available data emerging from trials and to evaluate efficacy and safety of molecularly targeted drugs in OC.