International Journal of Molecular Sciences

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Dear Colleagues,

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies leading to one of the highest causes of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Approximately over 250,000 women are diagnosed globally and over 150,000 patients pass due to this disease annually. It has been found approximately 90% of ovarian cancer cases are epithelial ovarian cancer. The current treatment strategies consist of debulking surgery followed by combined platinum and taxane based chemotherapy. Initial response to treatment is high but over 75% of patients relapse and acquire chemotherapy resistance. The development of more effective therapies for chemotherapy disease is urgently required for improving the survival rate of ovarian cancer patients.

Further research is required to identify and establish effective treatments to improve ovarian cancer survival. This Research Topic aims to generate a discussion around the research investigating novel molecular mechanisms, pathways and therapeutic strategies to target ovarian cancer. We encourage and invite researchers with related experiences in ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, cervical cancer, or other rare gynecological cancers to contribute original research articles or review articles.

Dr. Carmela Ricciardelli
Guest Editor

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Keywords

ovarian cancer
chemotherapy resistance
metastasis
novel therapeutic agents
immunotherapy
CAR-T cells
cancer chemotherapy

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2923 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advanced Glycation End Products as a Potential Target for Restructuring the Ovarian Cancer Microenvironment: A Pilot Study

by Elizabeth I. Harper, Michael D. Siroky, Tyvette S. Hilliard, Gena M. Dominique, Catherine Hammond, Yueying Liu, Jing Yang, Veronica B. Hubble, Danica J. Walsh, Roberta J. Melander, Christian Melander, Matthew J. Ravosa and M. Sharon Stack

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(12), 9804; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24129804 - 06 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1374

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related death in women, and both occurrence and mortality are increased in women over the age of 60. There are documented age-related changes in the ovarian cancer microenvironment that have been shown to create a permissive metastatic niche, including the formation of advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, that form crosslinks between collagen molecules. Small molecules that disrupt AGEs, known as AGE breakers, have been examined in other diseases, but their efficacy in ovarian cancer has not been evaluated. The goal of this pilot study is to target age-related changes in the tumor microenvironment with the long-term aim of improving response to therapy in older patients. Here, we show that AGE breakers have the potential to change the omental collagen structure and modulate the peritoneal immune landscape, suggesting a potential use for AGE breakers in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Targeted Therapeutics of Ovarian Cancer)

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Review

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24 pages, 1005 KiB

Open AccessReview

An Overview of PARP Resistance in Ovarian Cancer from a Molecular and Clinical Perspective

by Nicoletta Cordani, Tommaso Bianchi, Luca Carlofrancesco Ammoni, Diego Luigi Cortinovis, Marina Elena Cazzaniga, Andrea Alberto Lissoni, Fabio Landoni and Stefania Canova

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(15), 11890; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241511890 - 25 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1998

Abstract

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), a primarily high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSOC), is one of the major causes of high death-to-incidence ratios of all gynecological cancers. Cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy represent the main treatments for this aggressive disease. Molecular characterization of HGSOC has revealed that up to 50% of cases have a deficiency in the homologous recombination repair (HRR) system, which makes these tumors sensitive to poly ADP-ribose inhibitors (PARP-is). However, drug resistance often occurs and overcoming it represents a big challenge. A number of strategies are under investigation, with the most promising being combinations of PARP-is with antiangiogenetic agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Moreover, new drugs targeting different pathways, including the ATR-CHK1-WEE1, the PI3K-AKT and the RAS/RAF/MEK, are under development both in phase I and II–III clinical trials. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go, and the next few years promise to be exciting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Targeted Therapeutics of Ovarian Cancer)

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