BRCA1 and ovarian cancer: Notably, among Ashkenazim (East European ancestry), three mutations in BRCA1 (185delAG, 5382InsC) and BRCA2 (6174delT) predominate, and can be detected in more than 80% of familial breast and ovarian cancer, in about 40–50% of site-specific familial breast cancer and in 2.5% of the general population of this ethnic group (Abeliovich et al, 1997).