abstract/free full pdf access:P redictive and Prognostic Protein Biomarkers in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: Recommendation for Future Studies Cancers

"Abstract: Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. Due to its lack of symptoms, this disease is diagnosed at an advanced stage when the cancer has already spread to secondary sites. While initial rates of response to first treatment is >80%, the overall survival rate of patients is extremely low, mainly due to development of drug resistance. To date, there are no reliable clinical factors that can properly stratify patients for suitable chemotherapy strategies. Clinical parameters such as disease stage, tumor grade and residual disease, although helpful in the management of patients after their initial surgery to establish the first line of treatment, are not efficient enough. Accordingly, reliable markers that are independent and complementary to clinical parameters are needed for a better management of these patients. For several years, efforts to identify prognostic factors have focused on molecular markers, with a large number having been investigated. This review aims to present a summary of the recent advances in the identification of molecular biomarkers in ovarian cancer patient tissues, as well as an overview of the need and importance of molecular markers for personalized medicine in ovarian cancer."
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"High grade serous tumors show particular differences in terms of their development, genetic alterations and prognosis. This has led to the classification of ovarian cancer into two types: type 1 tumors, which are low grade and slowly developing (endometrioid, mucinous and low grade serous tumors), and type 2 tumors, which rapidly progress (high grade serous). In addition, the association of biomarker expression with survival varies substantially between subtypes, and can easily be overlooked in whole cohort analyses. Although these data suggest substantial differences between subtypes, until recently ovarian carcinomas were typically approached as a monolithic entity by researchers and clinicians. This practice impeded progress in understanding the biology or improving the management of the less common ovarian carcinoma subtypes. To avoid this effect, each subtype within a cohort should be analyzed individually. Therefore, molecular classifiers of ovarian cancer are of high clinical relevance in the management of these cancer patients...." cont'd