Trial Information

A Population Based Study of Genetic Predisposition and Gene-Environment Interactions in Ovarian Cancer in East Anglia, Oxford, Trent and West Midlands

OBJECTIVES:

- To obtain epidemiological information and biological material on a population-based
series of ovarian cases.

- To define the proportion of ovarian cancer incidence attributable to mutations in known
predisposing genes (e.g., BRCA1 and BRCA2).

- To determine the risk associated with predisposing mutations by examining the cancer
risks in relatives of patients who are shown to be carriers.

- To examine the effect of nongenetic risk factors in mutation carriers.

- To determine the pathological and clinical characteristics of ovarian cancers occurring
in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers as compared with that in noncarriers.

- To establish whether mutations at other loci may predispose to ovarian cancer by
comparing the frequency of alterations in ovarian cancer patients with that in
cancer-free controls identified through the European Prospective Investigation of
Cancer (EPIC) study.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Patients complete an epidemiological questionnaire. The questionnaire will request
identifying information on the patient's first-degree relatives.

Blood samples are collected from patients. DNA is extracted from these blood samples and
from samples collected from cancer-free control participants in MREC-SEARCH-CONTROL as well
as from additional controls through the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC)
study (a population based study of diet and health based in Norfolk, East Anglia). DNA
samples are analyzed for polymorphisms of low penetrance cancer susceptibility genes.

In addition to the ovarian cancer patients recruited for this study, patients with breast,
endometrial, prostate, colorectal, bladder, kidney, pancreatic, brain and esophageal cancer,
malignant melanoma, and lymphoma cancer are recruited in the following related clinical
trials: MREC-SEARCH-BREAST, MREC-SEARCH-ENDOMETRIAL, MREC-SEARCH-PROSTATE,
MREC-SEARCH-COLORECTAL, and MREC-SEARCH-CANCER.