Muto M G, Kassis A I
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Cancer. 1995 Nov 15;76(10 Suppl):2016-27. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19951115)76:10+<2016::aid-cncr2820761319>3.0.co;2-3.
Conventional therapy for epithelial ovarian cancer, including aggressive cytoreductive surgery followed by combination chemotherapy regimens, has failed to reduce the number of deaths caused by this disease, which remains the most lethal of gynecologic malignancies. Monoclonal antibodies, which offer the promise of high selectivity for detection and therapy, may be targeted to tumor-associated antigens, growth factors, receptors, or oncogenes. They may be used alone as immunotherapeutic agents or conjugated to chemotherapeutic drugs, toxins, or radionuclides. Radioimmunoconjugates may also be used for preoperative or intraoperative tumor localization. The authors focused on the clinical utility, technical limitations, and potential of monoclonal antibodies in the detection and treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer with emphasis on radioimmunodetection and radioimmunotherapy.
