This chapter is an overview, from a technical perspective, of the approaches that can be used to analyze genetic changes in ovarian cancers. Traditional gene localization methods are discussed, followed by a section on gene identification techniques. Once a putative disease-associated gene has been cloned, mutations have to be identified and analyzed. There are numerous mutation detection methods, and the most common ones are outlined. In the penultimate section, the role of immunohistochemistry as a surrogate method for mutation analysis is considered. Finally, the possible use of functional assays is discussed. The number of techniques used in the molecular analysis of ovarian cancer is immense, and it is beyond the scope of this book to describe all of these methods. However, the most important methods have been outlined in this overview chapter, and many are described in detail in the following chapters.
