Emerging drugs for ovarian cancer

"Strategies currently being exploited in clinical trials include attempts to deliver more killing selectively to tumours (e.g., intraperitoneal administration of cisplatin or radiolabelled monoclonal antibodies), agents designed to target drug resistance mechanisms (e.g., TLK-286 activated by glutathione transferase), agents targeting proteins/receptors shown to be selectively expressed in the disease (e.g., monoclonal antibodies recognising CA-125 or HER1; small molecules targeting HER1 such as gefitinib) and disrupting established tumour vasculature (e.g., 5,6-dimethyl xanthenone 4-acetic acid). At the pre-clinical level, agents being developed to target the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/AKT/mTOR pathway, and K-Ras inhibitors, may offer efficacy in the future."