Maintenance therapy for newly diagnosed epithelial ovarian cancer– a review

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynaecological cancer among women worldwide, with the 5-year survival rate ranging between 30 and 40%. Due to the asymptomatic nature of the condition, it is more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage, requiring an aggressive therapeutic approach. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) along with systemic chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin has been the mainstay of the treatment in the frontline management of EOC. In recent years, neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, followed by interval CRS has become an important strategy for the management of advanced EOC. Due to the high rate of recurrence, the oncology community has begun to shift its focus to molecular-targeted agents and maintenance therapy in the frontline settings. The rationale for maintenance therapy is to delay the progression or relapse of the disease, as long as possible after first-line treatment, irrespective of the amount of residual disease. Tumours with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) including BReast CAncer gene (BRCA) mutations are found to be sensitive to polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and understanding of HRD status has become important in the frontline setting. PARP inhibitors are reported to provide a significant improvement in progression-free survival and have an acceptable safety profile. PARP inhibitors have also been found to act regardless of BRCA status. Recently, PARP inhibitors as maintenance therapy in the frontline settings showed encouraging results in EOC; however, the results from further trials and survival data from ongoing trials are awaited for understanding the role of this pathway in treatment of EOC. This review discusses an overview of maintenance strategies in newly diagnosed EOC along with considerations for maintenance therapy in EOC with a focus on PARP inhibitors.

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Integrative Multi-Omics and Machine Learning Approach Reveals Tumor Microenvironment-Associated Prognostic Biomarkers in Ovarian Cancer

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“…Developing effective screening strategies for asymptomatic cancer patients could decrease the incidence of late-stage cancer and increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment. However, the early detection of asymptomatic and developing cancers is challenging [ 5 , 6 ]. We are confronted with the formidable challenges of metastasis and chemoresistance, which represent crucial impediments in the landscape of cancer therapy [ 7 , 8 ].…”