Navigating immunotherapy for ovarian cancer: current landscape and future perspectives

Abstract

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death related to gynecologic malignancies, with recurrence occurring frequently despite significant advances in surgical interventions and chemotherapy. Therefore, novel therapies are necessary to improve the long-term prognosis of the disease. Immunotherapy holds promise in OC treatment by harnessing the potential of the immune system to combat neoplastic cells. The effectiveness of immunotherapy has been demonstrated in numerous cancers and subsequently integrated into clinical practice. However, despite initial preclinical findings suggesting an immunogenic microenvironment in OC, immune checkpoint inhibitors have not shown significant outcomes in clinical studies thus far. Further investigation is needed to fully understand the role of immunity in OC and to develop more effective therapeutic strategies, including combinatorial approaches and the identification of predictive biomarkers for more accurate patient selection for immunotherapy.