[Genetic testing of BRCA1 for familial ovarian cancers]

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal kind of gynecological malignancy. Though combination therapy has improved, the prognosis is still poor. It is a risk factor to have a member affected with breast or ovarian cancer in one's family or to have been affected with these diseases. Genetic testing will more effectively enable earlier diagnosis and cure of such diseases. Including the selected results of familial ovarian cancers, we discuss the effectiveness and difficulty of genetic testing of BRCA1 in Japan.