New Targeted Agents in Endometrial Cancer: Are We Really Making Progress?

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological malignancy in Europe and North America. Metastatic and recurrent disease is generally incurable with poor prognosis. Recent advances in molecular profiling of endometrial cancer have elucidated four distinct molecular subtypes with different biology and prognosis which should facilitate the development of treatments tailored to disease-specific subgroups. To date, some molecular-targeted agents have shown interesting clinical activity in the recurrent setting, but no targeted therapies are approved for endometrial cancer. Novel pan-PI3K, AKT, and dual PI3K-mTOR inhibitors are being investigated with early signs of activity, but there are concerns about tolerability and toxicity in this often elderly patient population with comorbidities. The development of anti-angiogenic therapies, PARP inhibitors, and immunotherapies, alone or in combinations, appear to be promising strategies. This paper will describe the current evidence supporting the efficacy of molecular-targeted agents already tested in the treatment of metastatic and recurrent EC, and provide some insights on emerging data related to novel-targeted therapies.