Methylation and protein expression of DNA repair genes: association with chemotherapy exposure and survival in sporadic ovarian and peritoneal carcinomas

Table 3 Methylation of DNA repair genes in primary and recurrent ovarian or peritoneal carcinomas.

	PROPORTION METHYLATED
	BRCA1	MLH1	FANCF
Primary, no chemotherapy	6/91 (6.6%)	3/93 (3.2%)	3/93 (3.2%)
Primary, post neoadjuvant chemo	2/11 (18%)	1/11 (9.1%)	0/10
Recurrent*	2/31 (6.5%)	0/30	0/31 (0%)
Total (2.2%)	10/133 (7.5%)	4/134 (3.0%)	3/134

* Ten recurrent carcinomas were paired specimens for which we also evaluated the primary neoplasm. None of these 10 paired cases were methylated at any of the three genes in either the primary or recurrent case. One of these 10 pairs did show loss of MLH1 protein in the recurrent neoplasm, but was not methylated.

ISSN: 1476-4598