SB: Bevacizumab for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer: Will this be its finest hour? J Clin Oncol 2007;25:5150–5152

Few would argue that one of the key success stories of the modern era of molecular targeted therapy for cancer has been the demonstration that an antiangiogenic approach confers therapeu-tic benefit in several adult malignancies. If one had been asked 5 years ago to predict the tumors in which this would be most likely to be seen, there is no doubt that epithelial ovarian cancer would be very high on most lists. The reason relates to the biology of the disease. Angiogenesis, which is controlled by a range of pro-angiogenic factors, particularly including those in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family of proteins, plays a cen-tral role in the physiological function of the healthy ovary. It could therefore be anticipated that the abnormal angiogenesis that char-acterizes malignancy would be especially relevant in this disease.1 Preclinical studies with appropriate models have indeed indicated the potential for an anti-VEGF strategy in preventing tumor pro