Increased Incidence of Visceral Metastases in Scottish Patients With BRCA1/2-Defective Ovarian Cancer: An Extension of the Ovarian BRCAness Phenotype

Note: see abstract for further information

Results:
Seventy-nine patients with EOC/PPC and germline BRCA1/2 mutations were identified. Fifteen had inadequate clinical data, two had carcinosarcoma, 27 had previous breast cancer, and 16 were in remission. Of the remaining 19 patients who were BRCA1/2 deficient, 14 patients (74%) developed visceral metastases compared with six (16%) of 38 patients in the control group. The percentages of liver, lung, and splenic metastases were 53%, 32%, and 32%, respectively, in the patients compared with 5%, 3%, and 5%, respectively, in the controls.
Conclusion:
Although sporadic EOC commonly remains confined to the peritoneum, BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer frequently metastasizes to viscera. These data extend the ovarian BRCAness phenotype, imply BRCA1/2-deficient ovarian cancer is biologically distinct, and suggest that patients with visceral metastases should be considered for BRCA1/2 sequencing.

Switch that turns on the spread of cancer discovered - science news report

in research: "This is often the fatal process in breast, ovarian, pancreatic and colon-rectal cancers."