Gemcitabine in epithelial ovarian cancer treatment: current role and future perspectives

Newer agents and combinations are needed in order to improve current results in ovarian cancer treatment. Gemcitabine is a novel agent that has shown consistent activity as a single agent in the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and a favorable toxicity profile. Because of its clinical and preclinical synergism with platinum analogs, gemcitabine has been combined with carboplatin as a convincing approach in the treatment of platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer patients. Further combination of gemcitabine and other agents, including paclitaxel, is also feasible and has been actively studied in order to establish the role of gemcitabine in the management of treated and untreated ovarian cancer patients.