Potential targets for ovarian clear cell carcinoma: a review of updates and future perspectives

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 Characteristics of ovarian CCC

The molecular features of CCC are summarized in Table 2 [22, 24, 46, 52, 53, 61–72]. One major distinguishing characteristic is its higher incidence among Asian populations, particularly among Japanese women [2, 3, 56]. The reason for this is unknown, although CCC has been associated with endometriosis and endometriosis-associated ovarian cancers in 22–70 % of younger female patients [73]. Previous studies showed that ovarian endometrioma increases the risk for ovarian cancer, and 0.72 % of all cases of ovarian endometrioma later develop neoplasms [74].

Conclusion

As discussed above, the loss of ARID1A expression and/or PI3K activation is crucial for CCC tumorigenesis. Moreover, synergic effects of the loss of ARID1A expression and PI3K/AKT pathway activation and ZNF217 overexpression may be related to ovarian CCC development [99], warranting further studies of these associations and assessments of their potential as co-therapeutic targets for CCC.

CCC is highly resistant to current platinum-based treatment. However, if an AnxA4 blockade drug was developed, its use in combination with platinum drugs may have therapeutic activity against CCC.