New agents in ovarian cancer.

A small number of women with metastatic ovarian cancer can now be cured with cytotoxic agents. The majority, however, succumb and die. To aid in the search for new and more effective agents the National Cancer Institute has developed a preclinical screening program using human tumor xenografts in nude mice in addition to the more traditional experimental animal tumors. A number of cancer centers and cooperative clinical groups have developed programs for human trials. The recent development of an ovarian cancer clonogenic assay may provide an additional in vitro method for identifying useful new drugs specifically directed against ovarian cancer.