Disparities in Characteristics, Symptoms and mtDNA Influence on Ovarian Cancer Patients From South Indian Population

Abstract

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a complex multifactorial malignancy, ranking as second most common reproductive cancer in India. The purpose of this study was to compare whether different characteristics combined with hormonal and genetic influence among the urban, rural and tribal populations affected with OC would have a significant impact on OC incidence. To address this challenge, we designed a statistical approach that combines individual-level epidemiological data from both OC patients and controls from designed study populations using questionnaires. A total of (n=72) OC patients were obtained from several oncological clinics, hospitals and population-based surveys from various districts of South Indian population. Using validated hormonal biomarkers, we estimated hormonal profiles in both OC subjects and controls to measure the role of hormones in OC severity and incidence. Further we conducted mitochondrial gene sequencing, we found 5 nucleotide changes among which MT9140 C>T) was the predominant in OC subjects. In conclusion, this kind of study would be the first of its kind, where population-based epidemiological surveys serve as keys for comparing the characteristic factors and genetic influence associated with OC incidence. Hence, we strongly recommend that frequent conduction of epidemiological studies and health awareness camps would be beneficial to overcome such lethal conditions.