Clinical outcome of treatment with serine-threonine kinase inhibitors in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer: a systematic review of literature

ABSTRACTIntroduction: While serine-threonine kinases (STK) are attractive therapeutic targets in epithelial ovarian cancer, clinical outcomes of STK inhibitors in the management of recurrent disease have not been completely described.Areas covered: A systematic literature review of published clinical studies on STK inhibitors targeting mTOR, MAPK, and aurora kinase pathways in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer was conducted, revealing 18 clinical trials (497 patients). Pooled analyses were performed to assess treatment response, survival time, and adverse events. Median progression-free survival was 3.4 months in STK inhibitor-based therapy, and the average response rate and clinical benefit rate were 13% and 67%, respectively. Among regimens comprised of only STK inhibitors (11 trials, 299 patients), median progression-free time was 2.7 months, response rate was 10%, and clinical benefit rate was 64%. Compared to single STK inhibitor monotherapy (52.5%), clinical benefit rates significantly improved wh...