[Familial ovarian cancer]

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal disease in gynecological malignancy. Approximately 5-10% of cases are thought to have a hereditary basis, and family history is the strongest risk factor for the development of the disease. Familial ovarian cancer occurs as a part of three clinically distinct syndromes, site specific ovarian cancer families, breast ovarian cancer families, and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome II) families. The breast ovarian cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are reported to account for around 50% of familial ovarian cancer families. In this paper, we describe the contribution of ovarian cancer susceptibility genes to familial ovarian cancer, and clinical features of ovarian cancer patients with germline mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2.