Genes Contributing to Hereditary Ovarian Cancer in Women and BRCA1/2 Wildtype Families

There is more to hereditary ovarian cancer than the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2). Next generation sequencing techniques have made it possible to sequence multiple candidate ovarian carcinoma susceptibility genes simultaneously. The King Laboratory has developed a targeted capture and massively parallel sequencing test called BROCA to evaluate mutations in known or suspected breast and ovarian cancer genes. In a prospective series of 360 unselected women with ovarian carcinoma, the investigators found that nearly one fourth of women carried mutations in one of 13 genes, and mutations in genes other than BRCA1 and BRCA2 accounted for 26% of all inherited mutations. While BROCA and similar gene panels are already in clinical use, little is known about the relative risks of carrying these non-BRCA1/2 mutations, making it difficult to counsel unaffected family members and develop optimum prevention protocols.