Hormone Receptors in Serous Ovarian Carcinoma: Prognosis, Pathogenesis

open access

 Clinical Medicine Insights: Oncocology 2016

Abstract

A few breakthroughs have been accomplished for the treatment of ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecologic carcinoma, in the current era of targeted oncologic treatment. The estrogen receptor was the first target of such treatments with the introduction of tamoxifen four decades ago in breast cancer therapeutics. Attempts to duplicate the success of hormonal therapies in ovarian cancer met with mixed results, which may be due to an inferior degree of hormone dependency in this cancer. Alternatively, this may be due to the failure to clearly identify the subsets of ovarian cancer with hormone sensitivity. This article reviews the expression of hormone receptors by ovarian cancer cells, the prognostic value of these expressions, and their predictive capacity for response to hormonal agents. The possible ways ahead are briefly discussed.

Table 1. Estrogen Receptor α (ERα) expression and prognostic value in serous ovarian carcinoma

Table 2. Progesterone Receptor (PR) expression and prognostic value in serous ovarian carcinoma.

 In addition, there is a need to better target specific subsets of the disease based on histologies and genetic profiles instead of treating all ovarian cancers as a uniform disease, which is clear that it is not.82 ERβ and GPER1, PR and its subtypes, and the GnRH receptor are also potential targets of hormone agents that provide opportunities for fine-tuning therapies.