Bevacizumab as front-line treatment for newly diagnosed epithelial cancer

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death due to gynecological tumors. Despite the progress made during the last two decades in the surgery and chemotherapy of ovarian cancer, more than 70% of patients with advanced ovarian cancer will recur and die. Improvements in this field are coming from a better knowledge of the biology and the development of new-targeted agents. Bevacizumab, is a monoclonal antibody against VEGF that has shown activity as a monotherapy in recurrent ovarian cancer. The addition of bevacizumab to the front-line therapy of ovarian cancer has produced a benefit in progression-free survival in two randomized Phase III trials. This benefit seems to be greater in patients with more advanced disease. However, several questions remain to be clarified in the future, specially the optimal patient selection based on predictive biomarkers and the duration of therapy. Nevertheless, for the first time, the addition of a biologically targeted agent has shown an improvement in progression-free survival in the front-line treatment of advanced ovarian cancer and it is a proof of concept of the potential value of antiangiogenic therapy in ovarian cancer.