Abstract - Biotargets of Cancer in Current Clinical Practice - Ovarian Cancer

 Medicine

Biotargets of Cancer in Current Clinical Practice

Current Clinical Pathology, 2012, 381-401, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-61779-615-9_14

Abstract -
  
Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women and is the most lethal of all gynecologic cancers. Early-stage ovarian cancer is curable while women who are diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer continue to have poor long-term survival due to recurrence of disease. Unfortunately, most women are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease. Early detection is a primary objective for clinicians and scientists, yet single modality (CA-125, transvaginal ultrasound) screening tests have been ineffective. More recent novel approaches combining modalities and utilizing serial serum sampling are being tested and hold great promise. In addition, the recent application of proteomics to this clinical question has the potential to identify new and important biotargets.

Unfortunately, the majority of ovarian cancer patients have advanced-stage disease, and although most will die of their disease, their survival is quite heterogenous (different). 

The ability to stratify patients according to prognosis could help guide therapy. The current “gold standard” for prognosis uses patient, surgical, and tumor characteristics, yet these have the tendency to be notoriously inaccurate. This prognostic uncertainty and the drive to identify predictive factors by which we can select novel and targeted therapy have stimulated researchers to look beyond traditional markers and test and validate molecular and genomic biomarkers, which are anticipated to soon complement or even eclipse traditional factors clarifying prognosis and select treatments. 

For patients with advanced-stage disease, a multitude of prognostic factors have been characterized. While promising, none of these biotargets have been validated at present to be clinically useful. More recent application of genomic technologies is likely to yield clinically relevant signatures and/or biotargets which will provide the basis for personalization of care for these patients.