OCRF Research Identifies Genetic Variations Increasing Ovarian Cancer Risk

As part of a huge international effort involving more than 100 institutions and genetic tests on 200,000 people, researchers have discovered dozens of signposts in DNA that can help reveal further a person’s risk for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer.  The OCRF-funded Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium contributed to the ovarian cancer-related findings: five new genetic variations that increase a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer.

The findings are published in four studies supported by OCRF, two appearing in the journal Nature Communications and two in Nature Genetics on March 27, 2013. The research is being published as part of a large, coordinated release of thirteen studies, representing new data from the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS), an international effort to identify genetic variations that make certain people susceptible to developing breast, prostate and ovarian cancers.

While not yet ready for clinical practice, researchers hope that identifying more genetic risk variants will pave the way for identifying those women most likely to benefit from screening and prevention strategies, and in the process lead to new treatments.

Many OCRF-funded researchers contributed to the studies, including Dr. Andrew Berchuck, Dr. Kate Lawrenson, Dr. Simon Gayther and Dr. Ellen Goode.

Click here to read more about the details of the research studies, and click here and here to read articles about this research.