Introduction: Epithelial ovarian cancer remains the gynecologic tumor with the highest rate of recurrence after initial optimal cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Unfortunately, with the development of recurrent ovarian cancer often comes the discovery of chemo-resistant disease. The absence of improvement in long term survival, notwithstanding the use of newer agents as is seen in other cancers, emphasizes the need for improved understanding of the processes that lead to chemo-resistant disease.
Areas covered: This review will cover the following topics: 1. Molecular and cellular mechanisms in platinum and paclitaxel resistance 2. Other molecular mediators of chemo-resistance 3. Expression of stem cell markers in ovarian cancer and relationship to chemo-resistance 4. MicroRNA and long non-coding RNA expression in chemo-resistant ovarian cancer 5. Determination of chromosomal aberrations as markers of chemo-resistance 6. Molecular profiling in chemo-resistant disease. A standard MEDLINE search was performed using the key words; ovarian cancer, chemo-resistant disease, molecular profiling, cancer stem cells and chemotherapy. Expert Commentary: Over the next few years the challenge remains to precisely determine the mechanisms responsible for the onset and maintenance of chemo-resistance and to effectively target these mechanisms.
Keywords: Ovarian cancer; cancer stem cells; chemo-resistant disease; chemotherapy; molecular profiling.