Abstract
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy. The cancer initially presents with non‑specific symptoms; thus, it is typically not discovered until the patient has reached the late, considerably more lethal, stages of the disease. Research focus is currently on finding novel biomarkers, especially for early detection and stratification of the disease. One promising approach has been to focus on mutations or variations in the genetic code that are associated with the risk of developing ovarian cancer. A certain heritable component is already known regarding genes such as BRCA1/2, TP53, MSH6, BRIP1 and RAD51C, yet these are estimated to only account for ~3.1% of the total risk. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have enabled the investigation of hundreds of thousands of genetic variants in genome‑wide association studies in tens of thousands of patients, which has led to the discovery of 108 (39 loci with P<5.0x10‑8) novel susceptibility loci for ovarian cancer, presented in this review. Using the published variants in a patient cohort screening, together with variants identified in our ongoing whole exome sequencing project, future aims are to ascertain whether certain of the novel variants could be used as biomarkers for early diagnosis and/or treatment decisions.
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