Despite improvements over the past decade in the treatment of ovarian cancer, many patients are at risk of recurrent disease and emerging drug resistance. The increased selectivity and reduced toxicity of molecularly targeted anti-cancer agents renders them attractive for development in ovarian cancer, and monoclonal antibodies targeting ovarian cancer-specific tumor antigens represent the largest such group investigated in this clinical setting. This chapter describes examples of monoclonal antibodies clinically evaluated for efficacy in ovarian cancer. These agents recognize molecular targets expressed on tumors or within tumor microenvironments that may be essential for tumor cell survival and proliferation. Recently, antibodies targeting checkpoint molecules on immune cells have shown efficacy in modulating anti-tumor immunity, and applications in ovarian carcinomas are evaluated. The chapter focuses on therapeutic agents’ attributes on targeting key cancer growth and progression pathways, and propensity to engender effector functions by activating immune effector cells in tumors and the circulation.
Therapeutic Cancer Vaccination with Immunopeptidomics-Discovered Antigens Confers Protective Antitumor Efficacy