VEGF – targeted therapy for the treatment of cervical cancer – literature review

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the third most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide. Advances in the knowledge about molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis have created opportunities for greater use of targeted therapies in contemporary oncology. In view of the unsatisfactory results of advanced cervical cancer treatment and a well-documented role of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family members in pathogenesis and progression of cervical cancer, the use of VEGF-targeted therapy in the treatment of cervical cancer offers interesting possibilities. The efficacy of bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody neutralizing VEGF-A in the treatment of cervical cancer, was first suggested in 2006 by a small retrospective analysis and confirmed in several Phase II clinical trials. Preliminary results of the randomized phase III studies presented at this year’s ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) conference shed new light on the role of VEGF-targeted therapy in the treatment of cervical cancer, as they demonstrated that addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy is associated with significantly improved overall survival in the group of patients with persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.