Genetic fault link found for ovarian cancer

Scientists have discovered how a genetic fault is linked to the development of aggressive ovarian cancer.

While researching how the TP53 gene affects survival rates and responses to treatment, they found that genetic faults with TP53 are present in aggressive forms of the disease.

The discovery could lead to new treatments for the cancer, which kills around 4,300 women in the UK each year.

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A team of researchers, from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, led the study which was published in the Journal of Pathology.

They were examining the effect of TP53 on high-grade serious ovarian cancer, the most common type in British women.

The team analysed samples of tumours containing the TP53 gene taken from 145 women with aggressive ovarian cancer.

The women were part of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study, one of the world's largest research projects on the disease.

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Most of the women had a fault in the TP53 gene, leading the experts to conclude that TP53 mutations play a crucial role in development of the disease.

Aggressive ovarian cancers have the highest known rate of TP53 mutations of any solid tumour, they added.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, with some 6,600 new cases each year.