Molecular pathology of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among women with gynecologic malignancies. Epithelial tumors typically constitute 80-90% of ovarian malignancies and are classified primarily as serous, mucinous, endometrioid or clear cell. Current data indicate that each of these histologic subtypes is associated with distinct morphologic and molecular genetic alterations. We describe such genetic alterations with specific reference to histologic subtypes.