Gene mutations boost ovarian cancer survival
Wednesday January 25th, 2012
Women with ovarian cancer who have certain mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have significantly improved survival chances, new findings suggest.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today (January 25), looked at the impact of mutations in these "tumour suppressor" genes, which are the strongest known genetic risk factors for both breast and ovarian cancer.
About one in ten women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (the most common form) have one or more of these mutations. There have been suggestions that BRCA2-related disease is linked with an improved prognosis, but the effect of BRCA1 is unclear.
Dr Kelly Bolton of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and colleagues analysed the findings of 26 studies on ovarian cancer survival. This included 1,213 women with the mutations and 2,666 without.
Five-year overall survival was 36 per cent for women without the mutations, 44 per cent for those with a BRCA1 mutation, and 52 per cent with a BRCA2 mutation.
"BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers showed a more favourable survival than non-carriers," say the researchers. They calculate that the risk of death was 22 per cent lower for BRCA1 and 39 per cent lower for BRCA2.
"Our study results have potentially important implications for the clinical management of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer," they write. "Most immediately, our findings can be used by health care professionals for patient counselling regarding expected survival."
Dr Paul Pharoah of Cancer Research UK added: "Women with BRCA faults respond better than we thought to current treatments, but it's important that researchers now look at what treatment approaches work best for women without those genetic faults."
Association Between BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations and Survival in Women With Invasive Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. Bolton, K. L. et al. The Journal of the American Medical Association January 25 2012 Volume 307 Number 4 pp. 382-90.
Tags: Cancer | Genetics | North America | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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