Ironically, women who are at high risk for ovarian cancer because of inherited gene mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 also have better five-year survival rates than patients without the mutations. An analysis done by researchers at the University of Cambridge and published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" suggests that knowing BRCA status could inform the choice of treatment.
The findings, based on a review of 26 observational studies, also proposed that clinical trials should identify BRCA carriers in order to account for the protective nature of the genes
The scientists reported that of their study participants, overall survival rates at five years were 52% for BRCA2 carriers and 44% for BRCA1 carriers compared with 36% for noncarriers.
In an editorial accompanying the JAMA article, David Hyman, MD, and David Spriggs, MD, both of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, commented that the findings are "the latest evidence that ovarian cancer is a much more genetically and biologically heterogeneous disease than previously appreciated."
They stated that physicians will need to take into account the "accelerating availability of detailed somatic and germline genetic information" as they seek to provide care targeted for individual patients.
