The disease can be inherited.
In general, if a woman has no ovarian cancer in her family, her cumulative risk of developing ovarian cancer over her lifetime (up to age 70) is about 1% to 2%. If one first-degree relative (mother, daughter, sister) has the disease, the chance of developing ovarian cancer can increase to 5%, and if two or more first-degree relatives have the disease, the chance of developing ovarian cancer increases further to 7%. The cumulative lifetime risk for women carrying a mutation in the breast cancer 1 gene (BRCA1) ranges from 39% to 63% and for women carrying a mutation in the breast cancer 2 gene (BRCA2) ranges from 16.5% to 27%.
All in all, familial hereditary ovarian cancer syndromes account for about 15% of all ovarian cancer patients.