Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007;6(1):113-9.
doi: 10.1007/s10689-006-9112-x.

Improved survival in BRCA2 carriers with ovarian cancer

Tuya Pal  1 , Jenny Permuth-Wey, Rachna Kapoor, Alan Cantor, Rebecca Sutphen
Affiliations

Improved survival in BRCA2 carriers with ovarian cancer

Tuya Pal et al. Fam Cancer. 2007.

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate survival of ovarian cancer patients with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations compared to those without mutations in a population-based sample of incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases.

Methods: Follow-up for vital status was performed on a population-based sample of 232 women with incident epithelial ovarian cancer recruited between December 13, 2000 and September 30, 2003 in the Tampa Bay area. Survival analysis using Cox regression was performed on (1) all 232 cases and (2) the 209 invasive epithelial ovarian cancer cases. Results of the two analyses were similar, thus data involving the 209 invasive epithelial cancer cases are presented, as this was judged to be more clinically relevant.

Results: In the multivariate analysis, BRCA status and stage were statistically significant, and were adjusted for in the survival analysis model. The Kaplan-Meier method estimated expected survival at 4 years of 83% of BRCA2 carriers compared to 37% of BRCA1 carriers and 12% of non-carriers. There was a statistically significant difference between BRCA2 carriers and non-carriers (p = 0.013). No statistically significant survival differences were seen for BRCA1 carriers when compared with either BRCA2 carriers or non-carriers.

Conclusion: These data suggest that BRCA2 mutation carriers with ovarian cancer may have better survival than BRCA1 carriers and non-carriers. The etiology of this possible survival advantage is currently unknown. Larger studies are needed to confirm these results and to clarify their etiology and clinical significance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan–Meier estimates of survival by BRCA1 carriers vs. BRCA2 carriers vs. non-carriers
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Ninety-five percent Hall-Wellner confidence bands for survivorship
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Whittemore AS. Characteristics relating to ovarian cancer risk: implications for prevention and detection. Gynecol Oncol. 1994;55:S15–S19. - PubMed
    1. Risch HA, McLaughlin JR, Cole DE, et al. Prevalence and penetrance of germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in a population series of 649 women with ovarian cancer. Am J Hum Genet. 2001;68:700–710. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pal T, Permuth-Wey J, Betts JA, et al. BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations account for a large proportion of ovarian carcinoma cases. Cancer. 2005;104:2807–2816. - PubMed
    1. Narod S, Ford D, Devilee P, et al. Genetic heterogeneity of breast–ovarian cancer revisited. Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium. Am J Hum Genet. 1995;57:957–958. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Frank TS, Manley SA, Olopade OI, et al. Sequence analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2: correlation of mutations with family history and ovarian cancer risk. J Clin Oncol. 1998;16:2417–2425. - PubMed

Publication types