Methylation Status and Immunohistochemistry of BRCA1 in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Background: Cancer initiation and progression are controlled by genetic and epigenetic events. One epigeneticprocess which is widely known is DNA methylation, a cause of gene silencing. If a gene is silenced the protein whichit encodes will not expressed.
Objectives: 1. Identify the methylation status of BRCA1 in patients with epithelialovarian cancer (EOC)and assess BRCA1 protein expression in tumor tissue. 2. Examine whether BRCA1 genemethylation and BRCA1 protein are associated with survival of epithelial ovarian cancer patients.
Methods: Thestudy design was a prospective-cohort study, conducted at Sardjito hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Results:A total of 69 cases were analyzed in this study. The data showed that the methylation status of BRCA1 in EOCwas positive in 89.9%, with clear protein expression of BRCA1 in 31.9%. Methylation status and expression ofBRCA1 were not prognosticators of EOC patients. Menarche, CA125 level, clinical stage and residual tumorwere independent factors for prognosis.