Increased Risk of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer associated with BRIP1 Gene

(January 27, 2016) A new study of 8,000 women reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that carrying mutations in a gene called BRIP1 raised a woman’s chance of getting ovarian cancer in her lifetime to approximately 5%– nearly three times greater than chance women generally have of developing the cancer.

Around 18 women in every 1,000 develop ovarian cancer, but this risk increases to around 58 women in every 1,000 for women with a fault in the BRIP1 gene.

The study also showed that women who carried the BRIP1 gene mutation were more likely to be diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, at a later stage and tended to be diagnosed at an older age.

The Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, a research group funded by OCRF, contributed to the paper.

Click here to read the abstract.