Background: The aim of this work is to assess the frequency of BRCA1 protein immunohistochemical (IHC) expression in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and to evaluate the association of BRCA1 expression with clinical and pathological characteristics and the overall survival (OS) of patients treated with postoperative platinum- based chemotherapeutic agents.
Materials and methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 35 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer selected from the files of the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed for BRCA1 gene protein. BRCA1 expression was compared to patient's age, tumor histology, grade, stage and OS time. Statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS version 16.0 to assess significant associations.
Results: BRCA1 nuclear expression was detected in 40% of EOC, in which a mild increase in the percentage of positive cases was observed with serous histology, stage IV, and grade 3 carcinomas. There was a significant statistical difference in BRCA1 expression with regard to histological subtypes of EOC (p=0.048), but not grade or stage. Mean OS and survival rate were slightly better for BRCA1 expressing group, but there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.528).
Conclusions: No association between BRCA1 immunohistochemical expression and tumor grade, stage or overall survival was noted in platinum-treated epithelial ovarian cancer patients.