Introduction: Ovarian cancer - Turning knowledge into treatment

Introduction: Ovarian cancer - Turning knowledge into treatment


"In the past five years, there has been a huge advance in our understanding of the biology of the group of diseases collectively known as ovarian cancer. However, these advances have yet to translate themselves into improved outcomes for patients: Throughout the world, survival rates have improved little since the introduction of platinum-based chemotherapy thirty years ago. In the UK, for example, five year survival rates have increased by less than 4% since 1995.
One of the key changes is the realisation that ovarian cancer is not one disease, but many, each with its own distinct aetiology and molecular biology, and collectively linked merely by a shared anatomical location. This realisation is starting to manifest itself in changes to clinical trial design, as subtype-specific studies emerge, utilising novel agents targeting subtype-specific pathways. Further refinement will require international collaboration, especially in the rare subtypes, as well as improved preclinical modelling: We still await a reliable and realistic transgenic model of high grade serous disease, whilst many of the cell lines in widespread use are of uncertain provenance.....