Background Patients with BRCA-associated ovarian cancer (OC) have a survival advantage over those with sporadic OC. To further explore this, we examined the impact of prognostic factors on disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with known BRCA mutation status. Patients and methods We reviewed stage III–IV OC patients treated at our institution between 1 December 1996 and 30 September 2006 and also tested on protocol for BRCA mutations. Impact on DFS and OS was determined by Kaplan–Meier analysis and a Cox proportional hazards model. Results Of the 110 patients, 36 had deleterious BRCA mutations [BRCA (+)] and 74 were BRCA wild type [BRCA(-)]. Thirty-one of 36 (86%) BRCA (+) and 60 of 74 (81%) BRCA (-) patients were platinum sensitive (P = 0.60). Median OS was longer for BRCA (+) patients (not reached versus 67.8 months; P = 0.02), but DFS was similar (26.9 versus 24.0, P = 0.3). On multivariate analysis, OS correlated with primary platinum sensitivity [HR = 0.15; 95% CI (confidence interval) 0.06–0.34] and BRCA (+) mutation status (HR = 0.33; 95% CI 0.12–0.86). Conclusions BRCA mutation status predicted OS independent of primary platinum sensitivity, suggesting that underlying tumor biology contributes to disease outcome and may be worthy of consideration in future clinical trial design.
