title: Gestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary diagnosed by analysis of tumour DNA.
abstract: Gestational choriocarcinoma of the ovary is a rare form of malignancy which can be difficult to distinguish from primary ovarian choriocarcinoma. The ability to make such a diagnosis could, however, have important implications for therapy. We report here a case of choriocarcinoma whose origins were difficult to determine and which behaved clinically more like a primary rather than a gestational choriocarcinoma. We have analysed DNA from this tumour by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a range of polymorphic alleles and have demonstrated that the tumour was in fact gestational. Furthermore, the lack of chromosome Y sequences and the presence of heterozygosity of the spouse's alleles, indicated that this tumour arose as a result of dispermic fertilisation of an empty ovum by sperm carrying the X chromosome.
authors.affiliation: YCRC Department of Clinical Oncology, Weston Park Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Lorigan
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Grierson
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Goepel
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Goyns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011247:Pregnancy; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm