IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICALLY DETECTED P53 AND HER-2 NEU EXPRESSION AND NUCLEAR-DNA CONTENT IN FAMILIAL EPITHELIAL OVARIAN CARCINOMAS/

BACKGROUND. Some epithelial ovarian carcinomas tend to occur more freq uently in certain families. This clustering may be due to a genetic pr edisposition, but the role of inherited susceptibility in all families with multiple cases of ovarian carcinoma is currently unresolved. Stu dies characterizing familial ovarian carcinomas are few. METHODS. From a population-based study of 559 patients with epithelial ovarian carc inoma, 27 families with 2 or more ovarian carcinoma cases occurring in first-degree relatives were identified. Histopathology, ploidy, and i mmunohistochemically detected p53 and HER-2/neu expression in these tu mors were examined.RESULTS. The mean age of the patients with familial ovarian carcinoma was 56.7 years. Approximately 67% of the tumors wer e either serous or undifferentiated adenocarcinomas. The percentage of aneuploid tumors was 46%, that of p53 positive tumors was 51%, and th at of HER-2/neu positive tumors was 69%. When the families were divide d into families with cases of breast carcinoma in addition to ovarian carcinoma cases and/or ovarian carcinoma in 2 consecutive generations (12 families) and families with ovarian carcinoma occurring in sisters only without cases of breast carcinoma (15 families), no differences were noted in the frequency of any of the studied variables. CONCLUSIO NS. Familial ovarian carcinomas do not appear to differ from sporadic ovarian carcinomas with regard to patient age at presentation, histopa thology, ploidy, and immunohistochemically detected p53 expression. Im munohistochemically detected HER-2/neu expression was found to occur m ore frequently in famil ial ovarian carcinomas than has been reported in sporadic ovarian carcinomas. (C) 1997 American Cancer Society.