C225 and PDT combination therapy for ovarian cancer: the play's the thing.

Abstract

The prognosis for women diagnosed with advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer is poor, with fewer than one-third of patients surviving 5 years. Locally advanced pelvic tumors are often associated with diffuse peritoneal carcinomatosis and bulky tumor lesions involving the omentum, bowel, mesentery, and diaphragmatic surface. Even after aggressive cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, most of these patients experience local progression or recurrence. The reasons for treatment failure probably relate to difficulties inherent to surgery within the peritoneal cavity, problems related to administering cytotoxic agents to the tumor cells in cytotoxic concentrations, and the ability of ovarian cancer cells to develop resistance to standard chemotherapies.