Ovarian cancer among 8005 women from a breast cancer family history clinic: No increased risk of invasive ovarian cancer in families testing negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2

Families with mutations in BRCA1/BRCA2 genes have a high-risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.  We examined whether there was increased ovarian cancer risk in families which were untested or tested negative for BRCA1/2 mutations.  By performing person-years at risk analyses on 8005 women from 895 families we found there to be no increased risk of ovarian cancer in families that tested negative for BRCA1 /BRCA2, or were untested, compared to the general population.  Our findings can help with counselling women from BRCA1/2 negative families with breast cancer that their risk of invasive ovarian cancer is not higher than the general population. (By Dr. Sarah Ingham, http://jmg.bmj.com/content/early/2013/03/27/jmedgenet-2013-101607 )