Molecular Oncology Research Laboratory, Department of Medical BioSciences, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535, South Africa.
J Oncol. 2012;2012:737981. doi: 10.1155/2012/737981. Epub 2012 Feb 6.
The hallmarks of ovarian cancer encompass the development of resistance, disease recurrence and poor prognosis. Ovarian cancer cells express gene signatures which pose significant challenges for cancer drug development, therapeutics, prevention and management. Despite enhancements in contemporary tumor debulking surgery, tentative combination regimens and abdominal radiation which can achieve beneficial response rates, the majority of ovarian cancer patients not only experience adverse effects, but also eventually relapse. Therefore, additional therapeutic possibilities need to be explored to minimize adverse events and prolong progression-free and overall response rates in ovarian cancer patients. Currently, a revival in cancer drug discovery is devoted to identifying diagnostic and prognostic ovarian cancer biomarkers. However, the sensitivity and reliability of such biomarkers may be complicated by mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, diverse genetic risk factors, unidentified initiation and progression elements, molecular tumor heterogeneity and disease staging. There is thus a dire need to expand existing ovarian cancer therapies with broad-spectrum and individualized molecular targeted approaches. The aim of this review is to profile recent developments in our understanding of the interrelationships among selected ovarian tumor biomarkers, heterogeneous expression signatures and related molecular signal transduction pathways, and their translation into more efficacious targeted treatment rationales.
卵巢癌的特征包括耐药性的发展、疾病复发和预后不良。卵巢癌细胞表达的基因特征给癌症药物开发、治疗、预防和管理带来了重大挑战。尽管当代肿瘤减瘤手术、试探性联合治疗方案和腹部放疗有所改进，这些方法可以达到有益的缓解率，但大多数卵巢癌患者不仅经历不良反应，而且最终还会复发。因此，需要探索更多的治疗可能性，以最大限度地减少卵巢癌患者的不良反应，并延长无进展生存期和总体缓解率。目前，癌症药物发现的复兴致力于识别诊断和预后卵巢癌生物标志物。然而，BRCA1 或 BRCA2 基因突变、多种遗传风险因素、未确定的起始和进展因素、分子肿瘤异质性和疾病分期可能会使这些生物标志物的敏感性和可靠性变得复杂。因此，迫切需要用广谱和个体化的分子靶向方法来扩大现有的卵巢癌治疗方法。本综述的目的是描述我们对选定的卵巢肿瘤生物标志物、异质表达特征以及相关分子信号转导通路之间的相互关系的最新认识，并将其转化为更有效的靶向治疗依据。
