Treatment of metastatic cervical cancer: future directions involving targeted agents

Cervical cancer is the third most common cause of female cancer mortality, and it remains a major health problem in populations with limited economic resources. Metastatic disease or recurrent lesions not amenable to radical local excision or regional radiation have a poor prognosis, and are treated with palliative platinum-based chemotherapy. There are few effective therapeutic options for patients who progressed after first-line chemotherapy. Future advances in the treatment of metastatic or recurrent disease may rely on more effective and better-tolerated therapies, and molecularly driven targeted agents could represent an attractive option. Inhibition of tumor angiogenesis and epidermal growth factor receptor directed therapies have focused the most recent clinical research efforts. A thorough molecular characterization of cervical cancer remains crucial for a rationale implementation of targeted agents and companion biomarkers. Alternative clinical trial designs may also be necessary to optimize the clinical development of new drugs for metastatic cervical cancer.