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Low-grade serous cancer is the slow-growing, chemotherapy-resistant cousin of the common ovarian cancer. Surgery and hormone therapy are its mainstays, and MEK inhibitors, alone or combined with a FAK inhibitor, are the first drugs shown to shrink it reliably.
Low-grade serous carcinoma is a distinct disease with wild-type TP53 and mutations in the MAPK pathway (KRAS, BRAF, NRAS) in about half of cases; it often arises from a serous borderline tumour and expresses oestrogen receptors. Complete surgical removal matters more than in high-grade disease because chemotherapy response rates are low; letrozole or other aromatase inhibitors are used as maintenance and for recurrence. The GOG 281 trial showed that the MEK inhibitor trametinib nearly doubled progression-free survival compared with standard chemotherapy or hormone therapy in recurrent disease, and the combination of avutometinib and defactinib was approved in the United States in 2025 for KRAS-mutant recurrent disease after the RAMP 201 trial.
About one in twenty ovarian cancers, affecting younger women, with a median age in the forties; it grows slowly but resists chemotherapy, so patients live for years with disease that is hard to eradicate.
Most high-grade ovarian cancers begin at the tip of the fallopian tube; endometrial cancer lines the uterus, cervical cancer starts at the transformation zone; each drains to a different node group.
Same organ: Adenosquamous carcinoma of the cervix, Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix, Bartholin gland carcinoma, Vulvar melanoma, Vaginal melanoma, High-grade serous ovarian cancer, Clear cell ovarian cancer, Mucinous ovarian cancer, Adult granulosa cell tumour of the ovary, Ovarian cancer, Endometrial cancer, Cervical cancer, Vulvar cancer, Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, Uterine sarcoma, Vaginal cancer, POLE-ultramutated endometrial cancer, Mismatch-repair-deficient endometrial cancer, p53-abnormal endometrial cancer, including uterine serous carcinoma, Endometrial cancer with no specific molecular profile, Advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, Uterine carcinosarcoma, Early cervical cancer and fertility-sparing surgery, Locally advanced cervical cancer, Recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, Platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma, HPV-independent vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (p53-mutant), Vaginal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-associated), Vaginal adenocarcinoma (including DES-associated clear cell adenocarcinoma), Low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (FIGO score 0 to 6), High-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (FIGO score 7 or more, including ultra-high-risk), Placental-site trophoblastic tumour and epithelioid trophoblastic tumour
Complete cytoreductive surgery; carboplatin-paclitaxel followed by letrozole maintenance, or letrozole alone in selected patients.
Trametinib (GOG 281) or avutometinib plus defactinib for KRAS-mutant tumours; aromatase inhibitors; secondary surgery where complete resection is possible.
Letrozole after first-line treatment, continued for years while tolerated.
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Avutometinib plus defactinib is approved for KRAS-mutant recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer, making KRAS testing a routine part of managing the disease; RAMP 301 is comparing it with standard therapy.
MEK inhibition is a standard option for recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer, and the trial validated the MAPK pathway as the disease's therapeutic target, now extended by avutometinib-defactinib.
Letrozole maintenance after first-line therapy is now common practice and guideline-supported for low-grade serous ovarian cancer, and the randomised NRG-GY019 trial is testing letrozole alone.
Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"Low-grade serous ovarian cancer" OR ABSTRACT:"Low-grade serous ovarian cancer" OR TITLE:"LGSOC" OR ABSTRACT:"LGSOC" OR TITLE:"Low-grade serous carcinoma" OR ABSTRACT:"Low-grade serous carcinoma") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about Low-grade serous ovarian cancer, not a curated reading list.
The targets of this cancer's medicines and the ones linked to it directly.
Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, the expert centres with trials on record, and the centres named on this cancer's subtypes.
One section per setting: the options named, what each is for, the trials behind them, the recorded trade-offs and the questions to ask.
Bleeding that does not stop by itself, bleeding from more than one site, or new bruising in several places or one large area.
Fainting, near-fainting, or an irregular or racing heartbeat; several kinase inhibitors prolong the QT interval and the labels require ECG and electrolyte monitoring.
A swollen painful calf, or sudden breathlessness with chest pain; the tamoxifen boxed warning covers pulmonary embolism and stroke.
Dose by Calvert formula using GFR (see the calculators).
During chemotherapy a temperature over 37.5 C or below 36 C, shivering, or feeling unwell even with a normal temperature means ringing the hospital's 24-hour line straight away; breathing very fast, confusion, mottled skin or no urine in a day means 999.
Gradual thinning at the parting and crown that builds over months on tamoxifen, an aromatase inhibitor or ovarian suppression. It is not the sudden shedding of chemotherapy, it lasts as long as the treatment does, and it is often dismissed because it is mild on a clinician's scale and not on the patient's.
See all on the product pages:Avutometinib + defactinibCarboplatinLetrozole (and other aromatase inhibitors)Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxelTrametinib·Printable cards in the navigator
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Everything in development, the medicines held by this cancer's subtypes, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record.
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