We hypothesize that genomic instability plays an important role in causing specific types of p53 mutations in ovarian cancer. To test this hypothesis, 78 tumors were analyzed for p53 mutations with SSCP analysis of the entire open reading frame. At the same time, alterations in 10 microsatellite loci including di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeats were evaluated. Fourteen (26%) of all mutation...