Causative mutation found for rare form of ovarian cancer affecting young women

A rare type of ovarian cancer called small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (or SCCOHT) can affect women and girls as young as 14 months old. This week, researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Arizona, announced that they had found a mutation in a gene called SMARCA4 responsible for this cancer in nearly every patient tested. These results, published in Nature Genetics, lay the groundwork for developing targeted therapies for women and girls with this rare form of ovarian cancer.

Find out more about this exciting study here.