No Association between BRCA1 Immunohistochemical Expression and Tumor Grade, Stage or Overall Survival in Platinum-Treated Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Patients

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 clinicaland pathological characteristics and the overall survival (OS) of patients treated with postoperative platinumbasedchemotherapeutic agents. Materials and
Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 35 cases ofepithelial ovarian cancer selected from the files of the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, MansouraUniversity, Egypt. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed for BRCA1 gene protein. BRCA1 expressionwas compared to patient’s age, tumor histology, grade, stage and OS time. Statistical analysis was carried outwith the SPSS version 16.0 to assess significant associations.
Results: BRCA1 nuclear expression was detectedin 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 regardto histological subtypes of EOC (p=0.048), but not grade or stage. Mean OS and survival rate were slightly betterfor BRCA1 expressing group, but there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.528).
Conclusions: Noassociation between BRCA1 immunohistochemical expression and tumor grade, stage or overall survival wasnoted in platinum-treated epithelial ovarian cancer patients.