By David M. Gershenson, M.D.The Holy Grail of oncology is personalized cancer therapy. While patients with either malignant ovarian germ cell tumors or ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors, constituting two of the three major categories of ovarian cancer, have historically been treated on separate clinical trials, women with all types of epithelial tumors have been treated identically on the same trials over the past several decades.
With the explosion of information related to the molecular biology of ovarian cancer coupled with technological advances, continuing to study these epithelial cancers as a single disease entity is no longer acceptable.
In 2005, the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), a National Cancer Institute - sponsored cooperative group, established the Rare Tumor Committee. The formation of this committee provided the impetus to begin to develop separate trials for women with three rare epithelial ovarian subtypes--clear cell carcinoma, low-grade serous carcinoma, and mucinous carcinoma.
Continue reading Making a difference in the lives of women with rare ovarian cancers.
