Ovarian cancer is diagnosed in over 6600 women a year in the UK and causes more than 4400 deaths in the UK each year. Many women present with advanced disease with little prospect of cure. The 5-year survival rate for advanced ovarian cancer is approximately 20–40%.2 The current standard of care consists of the combination of radical surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. Despite key advances in surgical and chemotherapeutic strategies, these approaches have led to small improvements in outcome. There remains a significant risk of recurrence and resistance to therapy and
there is a need to improve current treatment options. Novel biologically targeted agents have proven successful in a variety of malignancies such as
leukaemia, breast, colon and renal cancers. These agents target tumour cells and/or the microenvironment by exploiting specific molecular abnormalities in the tumour. The approach holds the promise of greater selectivity and lower toxicity than traditional modalities such as chemotherapy. Recently, there has been an increased interest in this approach in ovarian cancer.
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