BRCA1 Gene Mutations in Sporadic Ovarian Carcinomas: Detection by PCR and Reverse

play a central role in familial breast and ovarian cancers, to date, no somatic mutations in BRCA1 have been reported in sporadic breast cancer, and only five somatic mutations have been identified in the sporadic ovarian carcinomas. Because loss of heterozygosity appears fre-quently at the BRCA1 locus in nonfamilial breast and ovarian carcinomas, we searched for mutations in the BRCA1 gene in sporadic ovarian tumors. Methods: We developed a detection system based on PCR and reverse allele-specific oligonucleotide hybrid-ization on membrane strips for the simultaneous detec-tion of 17 frequently occurring mutations in the BRCA1 gene. Results: As little as 2 % mutant DNA in a sample could be detected. Two of 122 DNA samples isolated fro