Exploiting somatic alterations as therapeutic targets in advanced and metastatic cervical cancer

It is estimated that 604,127 patients were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide in 2020. While a small percentage of patients will have metastatic disease at diagnosis, a large percentage (15-61%) later develop advanced disease. For this cohort, treatment with systemic chemotherapy remains the standard of care, with a static 5-year survival rate over the last thirty years. Data on targetable molecular alterations in cervical cancer have lagged behind other more common tumor types thus stunting the development of targeted agents. In recent years, tumor genomic testing has been increasingly incorporated into our clinical practice, opening the door for a potential new era of personalized treatment for advanced cervical cancer. The interim results from the NCI-MATCH study reported an actionability rate of 28.4% for the cervical cancer cohort, suggesting a subset of patients may harbor mutations which that are targetable. This review sets out to summarize the key targeted agents currently under exploration either alone or in combination with existing treatments for cervical cancer.