GENETIC-ASPECTS OF OVARIAN-CANCER

Ovarian cancer continues to be the foremost cause of mortality because of gynecologic malignancies. Surgical and chemotherapeutic advances h ave been made, yet the cause of ovarian oncogenesis is poorly understo od. Recognition of the familial clustering has focused investigators i n the direction of isolating genetic susceptibility loci for ovarian c ancer. Research on cytogenetic abnormalities have led to the identific ation of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, which have contributed to a multistep model of molecular oncogenesis. This review discusses h ow the familial clustering of breast and ovarian cancers, as well as t he chromosomal alterations and oncogenes identified, have all contribu ted to our understanding of the genetic factors involved in the develo pment of ovarian cancer.