Ovarian Cancer: Biomarkers and Targeted Therapy

• Published in: Biomedicines Vol. 9; no. 6; p. 693
• Main Authors: Radu, Mihaela Raluca, Prădatu, Alina, Duică, Florentina, Micu, Romeo, Creţoiu, Sanda Maria, Suciu, Nicolae, Creţoiu, Dragoş, Varlas, Valentin Nicolae, Rădoi, Viorica Elena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18.06.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Biomarkers; Cancer therapies; Classification; Disease; Drug therapy; Genes; Genetic diversity; Genomic instability; Health risk assessment; Homologous recombination; Lymphatic system; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Metastasis; Morphology; Mutation; ncRNAs; NTRK inhibitors; Ovarian cancer; PARP inhibitors; Patients; Review; Risk factors; targeted therapy; Therapeutic targets; Transfer RNA; Tumor cells; Tumors; targeted therapy; NTRK inhibitors; ovarian cancer; ncRNAs; PARP inhibitors; biomarkers
• ISSN: 2227-9059; 2227-9059
• DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9060693

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common causes of death in women as survival is highly dependent on the stage of the disease. Ovarian cancer is typically diagnosed in the late stage due to the fact that in the early phases is mostly asymptomatic. Genomic instability is one of the hallmarks of ovarian cancer. While ovarian cancer is stratified into different clinical subtypes, there still exists extensive genetic and progressive diversity within each subtype. Early detection of the disorder is one of the most important steps that facilitate a favorable prognosis and a good response to medical therapy for the patients. In targeted therapies, individual patients are treated by agents targeting the changes in tumor cells that help them grow, divide and spread. Currently, in gynecological malignancies, potential therapeutic targets include tumor-intrinsic signaling pathways, angiogenesis, homologous-recombination deficiency, hormone receptors, and immunologic factors. Ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed in the final stages, partially due to the absence of an effective screening strategy, although, over the times, numerous biomarkers have been studied and used to assess the status, progression, and efficacy of the drug therapy in this type of disorder.