Epigenetic BRCA2 Gene in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the most common fatal gynecologic malignancy in women. The BRCA2 gene has a role in regulation of cell cycle during proliferation, differentiation and DNA repair. Changes in the methylation of BRCA2 may be an effective mechanism for ovarian cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between ovarian cancer and methylation status of BRCA2. In this study, methylation changes of BRCA2 genes in 44 tissue samples from patients with ovarian cancer and 44 adjacent normal ovarian tissue samples were studied as the control group. After primer design and amplification of the BRCA2 gene sequence by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), gene methylation levels were evaluated using an enzymatic digestion method, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). According to the study of the methylation status of subjects, status changes were observed only in three cases. The results did not show a correlation between BRCA2 gene promoter methylation in ovarian cancer patients and healthy subjects. According to the results obtained in this study, changes in the methylation status of BRCA2 cannot be the decisive factor to ascertain the development of ovarian cancer.