Review

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 415-428 (June 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrc2644

The biology of ovarian cancer: new opportunities for translation

Robert C. Bast, Jr1, Bryan Hennessy1 & Gordon B. Mills1  About the authors

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Over the past two decades, the 5-year survival for ovarian cancer patients has substantially improved owing to more effective surgery and treatment with empirically optimized combinations of cytotoxic drugs, but the overall cure rate remains approximately 30%. Many investigators think that further empirical trials using combinations of conventional agents are likely to produce only modest incremental improvements in outcome. Given the heterogeneity of this disease, increases in long-term survival might be achieved by translating recent insights at the molecular and cellular levels to personalize individual strategies for treatment and to optimize early detection.

Author affiliations

  1. Departments of Experimental Therapeutics and Systems Biology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcolmbe Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Correspondence to: Robert C. Bast, Jr1 Email: rbast@mdanderson.org

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