Dr. Landen on Molecular Subtypes of Ovarian Cancer

Chip Landen, MD, associate professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Virginia Health System, discusses the molecular subtypes of ovarian cancer.

It is important for community oncologists to understand that there are multiple subtypes of ovarian cancer. There are 2 main subtypes: epithelial and serous—the latter being the most common, Landen says. Essentially of those histologies have p53 mutations that develop early in the oncogenic process, resulting in several different genetic changes in the disease history.

Other than that, in terms of number of tumor mutations, ovarian cancer in general falls into the “moderate” category compared with other tumor types. There are very few individual genes that are frequently mutated in the majority of patients, Landen adds. BRCA1/2 are the most common genetic alterations, although they are usually germline mutations. About 7% of ovarian cancers have BRCA1/2 mutations that are somatic, meaning they occur in the tumor rather than having been inherited.