Anti-angiogenic therapy in ovarian cancer: current situation & prospects

Abstract

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of five leading causes of cancer related death among women worldwide. Although treatment has been improving, the survival rate has barely improved over the past 30 years. The fatality rate is due to asymptomatic early signs and the lack of long-term effective treatment strategies for advanced disease. Angiogenesis is an important process in tumour growth and metastasis and is the creation of new blood vessels from existing blood vessels. It is a dynamic and complex process involving various molecular regulatory pathways and multiple mechanisms. The inhibition of angiogenesis has become a recognized therapeutic strategy for many solid tumours. While benefits in progression-free survival have been observed, the OS is far from satisfactory for OC patients who receive antiangiogenic therapy. In this article, the present research status of angiogenesis in OC was reviewed and the reasons for poor antiangiogenic therapeutic effects was explored with the aim to identify potential therapeutic targets that may improve the effect of antiangiogenic therapies.

Keywords: Angiogenesis; antiangiogenic therapy; bevacizumab; ovarian cancer; therapeutic targets.

Fig. 1

Tumour neovascularization. (A) Sprouting angiogenesis: new blood vessels are produced from an existing blood vessel and are elongated. (B) Intussusceptive angiogenesis: insertion of interstitial tissue pillars into the lumen of pre-existing vessels to split it into two new functional vessels. (C) Vessel cooption: tumour cells obtain their blood supply by hijacking and moving along the pre-existing vasculature of the host organ. (D) Vasculogenic mimicry: tumour cells simultaneously express endothelial and tumour cell markers to form a channel structure for blood perfusion. Source: Refs ,,,,,,.

Fig. 2

An outline diagram summarizes the entire review narrative on angiogenesis.