Cervical cancer: are there potential new targets? An update on preclinical and clinical results

According to international guidelines, treatment of cervical cancer (CC) consists of surgery in early stages and of chemoradiation in locally advanced disease. Metastatic disease is usually treated with palliative chemotherapeutic regimens, but cytostatic drugs present significant side effects and show limited activity. Thus, the discovery of new anticancer agents, interfering with molecular targets expressed by the tumor's microenvironment or by the tumor cell itself, represents a possible chance for the struggle against this tumor. The aim of this review is to report all targets that have been investigated in preclinical and clinical studies. We discuss these potential targets according to "targeted therapies" NCI classification. The most investigated molecular targets have been epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), both involved in CC etiopathogenesis. Studies with anti-angiogenetic agents showed encouraging clinical efficacy and acceptable toxicity. Other interesting results have been obtained by immunotherapeutic strategies. Since biological characteristics of CC, especially in recurrent disease, are still partially unknown, future studies are necessary to understand mechanisms involved in CC carcinogenesis, in order to give to patients the most tailored and efficient treatments.