Dr. Markman on the Future of Treatment for Ovarian Cancer

Maurie Markman, MD, national director, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, discusses what he sees as future treatment paradigms in ovarian cancer.

The two areas Markman sees as becoming more prominent in ovarian cancer are more effective targeted therapies and immunotherapy. In regards to targeted therapies, he thinks researchers will focus on molecular abnormalities, specifically in RNA and proteins. This process includes finding the targets, tumor weaknesses, driver mutations, and discovering the appropriate agent(s). Through those steps, Markman says the course of the disease should be followed through liquid tumor biopsies.

Immunotherapy will likely play a significant role in treatment in the future. Though the concept of immunotherapy had been around for several decades, Markman explains researchers did not understand the biology of cancer cells, nor did they have the current agents available. However, that is rapidly changing, and evidence of promising treatment outcomes with immunotherapy is beginning to show in ovarian, cervical and endometrial cancers, Markman adds.