BRCA1 and ovarian carcinoma: Approximately 8–15% of ovarian cancers are thought to be caused by inheritance of germline mutations in high-risk cancer-predisposing genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 (Schildkraut and Thompson, 1988; Whittemore et al, 1997; Risch et al, 2001; Antoniou et al, 2003).