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. 2019 Jun 15;125(12):1963-1972.
doi: 10.1002/cncr.32004. Epub 2019 Mar 5.

Critical questions in ovarian cancer research and treatment: Report of an American Association for Cancer Research Special Conference

Robert C Bast Jr  1 , Ursula A Matulonis  2 , Anil K Sood  1 , Ahmed A Ahmed  3 , Adaobi E Amobi  4 , Frances R Balkwill  5 , Monicka Wielgos-Bonvallet  6 , David D L Bowtell  7 , James D Brenton  8 , Joan S Brugge  9 , Robert L Coleman  1 , Giulio F Draetta  1 , Kai Doberstein  10 , Ronny I Drapkin  10 , Mark A Eckert  11 , Robert P Edwards  12 , Kevin M Elias  13 , Darren Ennis  14 , Andrew Futreal  1 , David M Gershenson  1 , Roger A Greenberg  11 , David G Huntsman  15 , Jennifer Xiao Ye Ji  15 , Elise C Kohn  16 , Claudia Iavarone  9 , Ernst R Lengyel  11 , Douglas A Levine  6 , Christopher J Lord  17 , Zhen Lu  1 , Gordon B Mills  1 , Francesmary Modugno  12 , Brad H Nelson  15   18 , Kunle Odunsi  4 , Jessica A Pilsworth  15 , Robert K Rottapel  19 , Daniel J Powell Jr  10 , Li Shen  4 , Ie-Ming Shih  20 , David R Spriggs  21 , Josephine Walton  14 , Kaiyang Zhang  22 , Rugang Zhang  23 , Lee Zou  21
Affiliations

Critical questions in ovarian cancer research and treatment: Report of an American Association for Cancer Research Special Conference

Robert C Bast Jr et al. Cancer. .

Abstract

Substantial progress has been made in understanding ovarian cancer at the molecular and cellular level. Significant improvement in 5-year survival has been achieved through cytoreductive surgery, combination platinum-based chemotherapy, and more effective treatment of recurrent cancer, and there are now more than 280,000 ovarian cancer survivors in the United States. Despite these advances, long-term survival in late-stage disease has improved little over the last 4 decades. Poor outcomes relate, in part, to late stage at initial diagnosis, intrinsic drug resistance, and the persistence of dormant drug-resistant cancer cells after primary surgery and chemotherapy. Our ability to accelerate progress in the clinic will depend on the ability to answer several critical questions regarding this disease. To assess current answers, an American Association for Cancer Research Special Conference on "Critical Questions in Ovarian Cancer Research and Treatment" was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 1-3, 2017. Although clinical, translational, and basic investigators conducted much of the discussion, advocates participated in the meeting, and many presentations were directly relevant to patient care, including treatment with poly adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, attempts to improve immunotherapy by overcoming the immune suppressive effects of the microenvironment, and a better understanding of the heterogeneity of the disease.

Keywords: PARP inhibitors; drug resistance; early detection; heterogeneity; immunotherapy; metabolism; microenvironment; ovarian cancer; prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: RCB: Royalties for CA125 Fujirebio Diagnostics, Inc.; AKS: SAB for Kiyatec, research funding from M-Trap and stockholder in Biopath; KME: Editorial Board Current Problems in Cancer, Elsevier; GBM: Consultant/SAB: AstraZeneca, Catena Pharmaceuticals, Critical Outcome Technologies, ImmunoMET, Ionis, Medimmune, Nuevolution, Pfizer, Precision Medicine, Signalchem Lifesciences, Symphogen, Takeda/Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Tarveda, Stock/Options: Catena Pharmaceuticals, ImmunoMet, SignalChem, Spindletop Ventures, Tarveda, Licensed Technology: HRD assay to Myriad Genetics, Sponsored Research: Abbvie, Adelson Medical Research Foundation, AstraZeneca, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Critical Outcome Technologies, Horizon Diagnostics, Illumina, Immunomet, Ionis, Karus Therapeutics, Komen Research Foundation, Nanostring, Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, Pfizer, Prospect Creek Foundation, Takeda/Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Tesaro; RID: SAB for Repare Therapeatics and Siamab Therapeutics. Authors: UAM, AAA, AEA, FRB, MWB, DDB, JDB, JSB, RLC, GFD, KD, MAE, RPE, DE, AF, DMG, RAG, DGH, JXJ, ECK, CI, ERL, DAL, CJL, ZL, FM, BHN, KO, JAP, RKR, DJPJ, LS, LMS, DRS, JW, KZ, RZ and LZ declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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