Biomarker studies in hereditary ovarian carcinoma

Ovarian cancer has been increasing in frequency during the past several decades, particularly in Western industrialized nations. It has the ignominious distinction of being the major cause of death from genitourinary cancer in women in the United States. A small but significant fraction of patients with ovarian cancer have family histories that are compatible with a primary genetic factor. The hereditary variant is heterogeneous but these pedigrees reveal a high predictability of cancer. Therefore, families that are prone to ovarian cancer merit the highest priority for biomarker investigations. When considering the generally poor surveillance measures available to us for detecting ovarian cancer sufficiently early to improve prognosis, the search for biomarkers of high sensitivity and specificity assumes major significance. In turn, such biomarkers may shed light on the etiology and pathogenesis of ovarian cancer in the general population and more importantly provide mechanisms for early detection and prevention of death from this tumor.