Novel Targeted Agents in Advanced and Recurrent Low-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer: A Silver Lining in the Therapy of a Chemoresistant Disease?

Simple Summary: Low-grade serous ovarian cancer is a rare and complex subtype that usually develops slowly and predominantly affects younger women. Conventional treatment, which generally involves a combination of primary surgery and chemotherapy, often fails, leading to frequent recurrences. Due to the rarity of this cancer subtype, there are limited clinical data available to guide optimal treatment decisions. However, recent research is focusing on new, promising therapies, including targeted treatments that address specific molecular pathways and hormonal therapies. These emerging options offer hope for improved outcomes by enabling more personalized and effective management. This review aims to address the current treatment challenges and summarize the innovative therapies and their potential to enhance treatment strategies, aiming to provide better management for patients with this uncommon ovarian cancer subtype. Low-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (LGSOC) is a rare subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer, characterized by a unique molecular background and specific clinical behavior. A growing body of molecular data underscores LGSOC as a distinct disease entity; however, clinical evidence on the optimal treatment regimens for LGSOC remains limited due to the low incidence of the disease. Consequently, treatment recommendations for LGSOC are still often derived from findings on the more common high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) and typically focus on radical cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. Since LGSOCs typically exhibit only limited responsiveness to platinum-based chemotherapy, the clinical management of advanced and recurrent LGSOCs remains a significant therapeutic challenge and often results in limited treatment options and suboptimal outcomes. Recent advances in molecular profiling and the identification of new, promising targets, such as the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, offer hope for improving both the prognosis and health-related quality of life in affected patients. Given the high unmet clinical need to establish new therapeutic standards beyond cytotoxic chemotherapy, this review aims to summarize the most promising molecular targets and emerging targeted agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]