Importance of the field: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality of all female reproductive tract cancers, which reflects both the absence of proven ovarian cancer screening tests and the development of drug-resistant cancer cell. Apart from varying the dosages, schedules, mode of delivery and combinations of existing drugs, efforts must continue to identify signaling pathways in tumor cells sufficiently different from normal cells that can be a target for maximizing tumor kill and minimizing toxicity.
Areas covered in this review: Some of the most important cellular pathways are analyzed and discussed and the most interesting clinical trials, both closed and ongoing, described.
What the reader will gain: The reader will gain a panoramic vision of all the most active drugs in clinical investigations in ovarian cancer. The reader will also better understand what the unresolved problems of molecular research are and how complicated the process 'from the bench to the bedside' is.
Take home message: It is only with a strong commitment, cooperation and collaboration from the international ovarian cancer community that significant improvement in patient outcomes can be attained beyond the marginal gains achieved so far.