Weekly paclitaxel in the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer

This Review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of weekly paclitaxel for the treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer. When compared with the 3 weekly schedule, weekly paclitaxel is better tolerated, with a reduced frequency of toxic effects; however, response duration can be short. Importantly, patients with tumors that are resistant to 3-weekly paclitaxel have responded to treatment with weekly paclitaxel. Current research focuses to increase response duration include the combination of weekly paclitaxel with molecular-targeted agents and the use of molecular profiling to better select patients for treatment.