Journal of Carcinogenesis & Mutagenesis

Abstract

Current Preclinical Models of Ovarian Cancer

Elisabetta Kuhn, Veronica Tisato, Erika Rimondi and Paola Secchiero

Despite improvements in surgical and chemotherapeutic intervention of ovarian cancer over the recent decades, ovarian cancer remains the most lethal cancer in women. Notably, after an initial effective response to chemotherapeutic regimen, therapeutic resistance rises up leading to patient’s death. This scenario highlights the urgent need to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Recently, several efforts to better understand the molecular bases of ovarian cancer using integrated multiplatform molecular profiling have revealed an intrinsic complexity and heterogeneity among ovarian cancers. Concurrently, a growing body of evidences implies fallopian tube epithelium as the likely site of origin of the majority of ovarian cancers. This fallopian tube hypothesis has shifted the attention of ovarian cancer research from the ovarian surface epithelium to the fallopian tube epithelium leading to adjustment of in vitro and in vivo ovarian cancer models. In this review article, we critically summarize recent advances in ovarian cancer preclinical models that have the potential to accelerate and facilitate the discovery of more effective biomarkers and target drugs for personalized cancer therapy.