The emerging role of precision medicine in the treatment of ovarian cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Ovarian cancer is the primary cause of gynecologic cancer death in women worldwide and it is generally diagnosed at an advanced stage. Although the current standard treatment based on extensive cytoreductive surgery and systemic chemotherapy results in a high complete remission rate, recurrences are extremely frequent and exhibit progressive chemotherapy resistance, thus posing a difficult clinical challenge. Areas covered In the era of precision medicine, the increasing knowledge of cancer genomics, proteomics, and immune milieu facilitated the development of new targeted therapies (e.g. antiangiogenic drugs, PARP inhibitors, immunotherapy, folate receptor inhibitors, growth factor signaling inhibitors), that could improve ovarian cancer paradigm of care. Expert opinion In this review article, we discuss recent advances in the management of ovarian cancer, highlighting the need for a modern, personalized, and multi-disciplinary approach and for new predictive biological markers that will allow to choose the best therapeutic option between chemotherapy, molecular targeted agents, and immunotherapy for each patient. In the future, modern combinations of targeted therapies will open new chances for ovarian cancer patients. The main goal is to turn an aggressive disease eventually into a manageable chronic condition.