Can Schlafen 11 Help to Stratify Ovarian Cancer Patients Treated with DNA-Damaging Agents?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Anticancer agents causing DNA damage are widely used in the treatment of ovarian cancer; however, predictive biomarkers capable of optimizing the selection of patients with the best likelihood of a good response have not been defined yet. The newly discovered protein Schlafen 11 was identified to have a casual association with responses to a wide range of DNA-damaging agents, including platinum compounds and PARP inhibitors. We review the current state of knowledge regarding the role of Schlafen 11 as a biomarker in ovarian cancer and its potential to identify patients not responding to the systemic treatment. ABSTRACT: Platinum-based chemotherapy has been the cornerstone of systemic treatment in ovarian cancer. Since no validated molecular predictive markers have been identified yet, the response to platinum-based chemotherapy has been evaluated clinically, based on platinum-free interval. The new promising marker Schlafen 11 seems to correlate with sensitivity or resistance to DNA-damaging agents, including platinum compounds or PARP inhibitors in various types of cancer. We provide background information about the function of Schlafen 11, its evaluation in tumor tissue, and its prevalence in ovarian cancer. We discuss the current evidence of the correlation of Schlafen 11 expression in ovarian cancer with treatment outcomes and the potential use of Schlafen 11 as the key predictive and prognostic marker that could help to better stratify ovarian cancer patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy or PARP inhibitors. We also provide perspectives on future directions in the research on this promising marker.