Ovarian Cancer Risk and Survival in BRCA 1/2 Carriers

Abstract : This project is evaluating whether oral contraceptives and parity are as protective against ovarian cancer in BRCA1/2 carriers as they are for women in general. It is also determining whether there are survival differences between BRCA1/2 carriers with ovarian cancer compared to women with sporadic disease. The study employs a case-case design. We will identify about 400 Jewish women with epithelial ovarian cancer. We will genotype these women for the 3 BRCA1/2 mutations found in Ashkenazi women. We will then compare oral contraceptive use and parity between carriers and non-carriers. We will also compare survival differences between the two groups. In the second year of the project, we identified 242 Jewish women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer for whom BRCA1/2 genotyping data was available or was obtained by our assay. We then compared OC use and reproductive factors for those women with and without a mutation. Initial results suggest that OC use, childbearing and breastfeeding are as protective in BRCA1/2 carriers as they are in women in general. A manuscript detailing these findings is under review.