Fig. 9

A proposed model of Oct4A-mediated epithelial ovarian recurrence: a Current model of Oct4A mediated recurrence driven by drug resistant Oct4A-expressing EOC ascites tumour cells. A population of Oct4A-expressing tumour cells which disseminate directly into the peritoneal cavity are capable of surviving traditional combination therapy consisting of cisplatin and paclitaxel. These cells maintain long term tumourigenicity by the formation of multicellular tumour aggregates (spheroids) or directly 'seed' at a metastatic site to initiate secondary/recurrent disease. b Model of Oct4A targeted therapy. Oct4A-expressing primary ovarian tumour cells would still be capable of exfoliating directly into the peritoneal cavity. In contrast however, Oct4A expressing ascites tumour cells would be targeted by Oct4A-specific therapy (potentially in combination with cisplatin and paclitaxel treatment) resulting in the inhibition of tumour cell survival and the prevention of ongoing cancer progression/recurrence