Harnessing ovarian cancer ascites for translational science: models, biomarkers, and therapeutics
Dogra S., Adhikari L., Benbrook DM., Bohn JA., Burgett A., Chandra V.
Narrative Review, published in Mol Cancer (2025) — summary generated from the PubMed abstract.
Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.
- Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
- Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
- Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
- Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
- Emerging · Emerging topic under active research
This page is generated from the PubMed record. The Thai description is an automated summary of bibliographic fields and the abstract, not a full translation, and is not medical advice.
- Study type
- Narrative Review
- Journal
- Mol Cancer (2025)
- Reported sample size
- —
- Source database
- Europe PMC
- PMID
- 41088281
- PMCID
- PMC12522915
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12943-025-02438-z
- Citations
- 2
Abstract (original English)
Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal gynecological malignancies and is often associated with fluid build-up in the peritoneal cavity, known as ascites. Nearly one-third of patients with ovarian cancer present with ascites at the time of initial diagnosis, and more frequently with recurrent ovarian cancer. Ascites is a uniquely valuable tool for research, as it is representative of both the tumor and its microenvironment. Ascites is composed of cells (single cells and multicellular aggregates) and acellular components that contribute to the development of peritoneal metastasis and chemoresistance. Ascites is an underutilized resource that provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of ovarian cancer biology, identify novel drug targets, assess drug responses, and identify diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers. This review summarizes the current understanding of ovarian cancer ascites with a focus on, (1) etiology, (2) cytopathological and molecular characterization, (3) the role its cellular and acellular components play in shaping the tumor microenvironment, and (4) its application in translational research for drug development (organoids and patient-derived ascites xenografts) and biomarker discovery. Lastly, options for the treatment of malignant ascites, along with future opportunities to use ascites as a translational research tool to improve our understandin
What this study does not prove
- • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
- • This is a narrative review: it collects no new patient data and does not systematically appraise evidence quality.
Evidence level
Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.
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