Abstract
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer affecting the female population and at present, stands as the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Poor prognosis and low five-year survival rate are attributed to nonspecific symptoms and below par diagnostic criteria at early phases along with a lack of effective treatment at advanced stages. It is thus of utmost importance to understand ovarian carcinoma through several lenses including its molecular pathogenesis, epidemiology, histological subtypes, hereditary factors, diagnostic approaches and methods of treatment. Above all, it is crucial to dissect the role that the unique peritoneal tumor microenvironment plays in ovarian cancer progression and metastasis. This review seeks to highlight several important aspects of ovarian cancer pathobiology as a means to provide the necessary background to approach ovarian malignancies in the future.
Highlights
Several aspects of ovarian cancer (OvCa) deem it a very challenging malignancy to diagnose and treat
The fiveyear survival rate of women diagnosed with OvCa drops precipitously when women are diagnosed with stage III or IV as aggressive metastasis to neighboring abdominal organs has already progressed [1, 2]
The standard clinical management for advanced stage OvCa includes debulking surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery in patients who present with un-resectable disease [4]
Summary
Several aspects of ovarian cancer (OvCa) deem it a very challenging malignancy to diagnose and treat. Several immune cells, including tumor associated macrophages (TAMs), T cells, natural killer (NK) cells in addition to fibroblasts and a wide host of chemokines and cytokines all interact with each other to promote the growth and metastasis of OvCa cells [7].
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