Therapy and Prognosis of BRCA-Associated Ovarian Cancer

Only about 10% of cases of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are due to an

inherited predisposition (1-5), with a majority of these attributable to alterations

in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and a small contribution due to mutations

in the DNA mismatch repair genes involved in the Lynch II or hereditary

nonpolyposis colorectal carcinoma syndrome. For BRCA mutation carriers, the

lifetime risk for ovarian cancer is estimated to be between 20% and 40%.