Description
Epithelial ovarian cancer accounts for 90% of ovarian cancers, is the most lethal gynecological cancer, and the fifth-most common cause of cancer-related deaths in women in the United States(6). In 2016, there were an esitmated 22,280 new cases in the U.S. and the overall survival rate at 5 years is 46.2%(3). About 10% of cases are heriditary (4). Clinical trials have shown that the efficacy of more traditional platinum-based drugs are increased when combined with a taxane-based drug. Docetaxel, commercially Taxotere, is a taxane that has been in use since the mid-1990s and is used to treat many forms of cancer including ovarian but also; breast, lung, head and neck, gastric and prostrate carcinomas. Taxotere is derived from the needles of the European Yew tree (Taxus baccata) by a semisynthetic process(1)and like other taxane-based drugs, binds to microtubules during mitosis leading to apoptosis and cell death(2).
