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Introduction: The identification of cell membrane-bound molecules with a relevant role in cancer cell survival prompted the development of moAbs to block the related pathways. In the last few years, the number of approved moAbs for cancer treatment has constantly increased. Many of these drugs significantly improved the survival outcomes in patients with solid tumours., Areas Covered: In this review, all the FDA-approved moAbs in solid tumours have been described. This is an update of moAbs available for cancer treatment nowadays in comparison with the moAbs approved until few years ago. The moAbs under development are also discussed here., Expert Opinion: The research on cancer antigens as therapeutic targets led to an expanding scenario of available treatment options in non-haematological malignancies. In a few years, the number of approved drugs has increased rapidly. Some of these agents are actually on label in combination with standard chemotherapy. Only some of them can be delivered as monotherapy. The research on these new drugs is addressing both the identification of further target molecules in key cancer-related pathways and the improvement of drug effectiveness by changing the affinity and the selectivity of a moAb relative to its target.

Introduction: The discovery of molecular biomarkers and the advent of targeted therapies have led to a radical change in the treatment of several tumors, including NSCLC. In the last few years, the number of molecular biomarkers has rapidly increased, and a growing interest has been recently focused on their potential prognostic and predictive value in clinical settings., Areas Covered: This review describes all the molecular biomarkers with prognostic and predictive value in NSCLC, including both clinically approved biomarkers, and emerging biomarkers under investigation in clinical trials. Liquid biopsy and applications of circulating biomarkers are also described., Expert Opinion: The oncological research is currently focusing on the discovery and validation of molecular biomarkers in order to promote even more personalized treatment strategies. This paradigm of care will expand quickly thanks to the advent of new genotyping technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, making it possible to create a molecular-genomic profile of every patient's tumor. Liquid biopsy and the use of circulating-biomarkers represent the new challenge of oncological research, with very promising implications in the management of patients.

Introduction: The skeleton is generally the primary, and sometimes the only, site of metastasis in patients with advanced solid tumors. Bone metastases are the most frequent cause of cancer-related pain and the origin of severe morbidity in patients. Among the treatment options available for the prevention of skeletal-related events (SREs) associated with bone metastasis, zoledronic acid, an antiresorptive treatment from the group of bisphosphonates, is currently the standard of care in this setting., Areas Covered: Zoledronic acid, together with denosumab (a monoclonal antibody against the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand), is the most frequent approach for the prevention of cancer-related events in skeleton. This paper reviews several trials evaluating the efficacy of denosumab in comparison with zoledronic acid in patients with solid osteotropic tumors. In this setting of skeleton-invading cancers, denosumab was demonstrated to be superior to zoledronic acid in preventing or delaying SREs. In comparison with zoledronic acid, denosumab significantly delayed the time to first SRE by 17%., Expert Opinion: Current research on denosumab is addressed to prove the immunomodulator effect of this agent in humans. Other avenue of research is focused on its antitumor activity observed in some Phase III trials.

Introduction: Treatment of ovarian cancer has been long standardized with the inclusion of surgery and chemotherapy based on platinum and taxanes, this strategy reaching high remission rates. However, when this treatment fails, further options are available with little benefit. Since ovarian cancer has specific immunologic features, actually immunotherapy is under evaluation to overcome treatment failure in patients experiencing recurrence., Areas Covered: Immunogenicity of ovarian cancer and its relationship with clinical outcomes is briefly reviewed. The kinds of immunotherapeutic strategies are summarized. The clinical trials investigating immunotherapy in recurrent ovarian cancer patients are reported., Expert Opinion: The results of these clinical trials about immunotherapy are interesting, but little clinical benefit has been achieved until now. For this reason, we could conclude that immunotherapy is quite different from other treatment options and it could change the global approach for recurrent ovarian cancer treatment. However, to date only fragmentary findings are available to define the real role of immunotherapy in this setting.

Introduction: Among gastrointestinal cancers, colorectal and gastric neoplasms are the most frequent. The development of new targeted drugs improved the efficacy of systemic therapy in advanced stages of those malignancies., Areas Covered: This review highlights the main biological processes implicated in gastrointestinal cancer development and progression, such as angiogenesis and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway. On these bases, anti-EGFR and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibodies in colorectal and gastric cancer are discussed. Data about further monoclonal antibodies in development are also reported., Expert Opinion: The use of monoclonal antibodies in colorectal and gastric cancers showed the best outcomes when combined with chemotherapy, even though single agent anti-EGFR antibodies seem active in particular setting of metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. It is not well defined whether the addition of anti-VEGF and anti-EGFR to chemotherapy could improve outcome in those patients susceptible to CRC-related metastases resection. Little and conflicting data are available about the role of these drugs in adjuvant setting. Tests are available to select patients with higher probability to get benefit from these treatments. Further biomarkers need to be evaluated to improve this selection and achieve "tailorization" of systemic therapy.

Introduction: The use of monoclonal antibodies is one of the strategies for targeting the specific key points of the main pathways of cancer growth and survival, but only a few antibodies have offered a clear clinical benefit in the treatment of non-haematological malignancies., Areas Covered: This review summarizes the general properties of monoclonal antibodies, including structure, nomenclature and production techniques. The antibodies approved for use in clinical practice for the treatment of non-haematological tumors and those antibodies still being developed in this setting are briefly described. The types of antibody fragments are also reported., Expert Opinion: Monoclonal antibodies were initially developed in order to avoid the cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy on healthy tissues. However antibodies have not yet replaced chemotherapy agents, since the combination of both kinds of drugs have usually appeared to achieve higher benefit compared with chemotherapy alone. The research for the development of new monoclonal antibodies aims to identify further targets and to provide innovative antibody constructs.