[Preneoplasias of ovarian carcinoma: biological and clinical aspects of different pathways of tumorigenesis].

Ovarian carcinomas consist of a heterogeneous group of malignant epithelial neoplasms with specific pathogenic mechanisms. This review provides a brief introduction to the different pathways of tumor progression and the associated molecular changes. However, the main focus will be on two areas with major paradigm shifting developments in recent years. Mutational analysis of ovarian clear cell carcinomas, endometrioid carcinomas and endometriotic lesions identified mutations in the ARID1A gene as common and early genetic changes in carcinomas with associated endometriosis and in atypical endometriosis itself. Extensive pathological work-up of the fallopian tubes of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers have demonstrated the existence of serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas (STIC). Further studies showed that this lesion can also be found in 50-60% of patients with serous ovarian carcinomas without BRCA1/2 germline mutations. Pre-precursors which share the p53 mutations with STICs but proliferate very little are called p53-signatures and provide conclusive evidence that STICs develop in the fallopian tubes.