In what could pave the way for early detection of ovarian cancer, scientists claim to have pinpointed new genetic variants which are associated with the risk of developing the disease in women.

An international team, led by Queensland Institute of Medical Research, has identified the genetic variants after comparing genes of 10,283 women with ovarian cancer to 13,185 women without the disease.

Prof Georgia Chenevix-Trench, who led the team, said:"We now have more powerful genetic techniques that enable us to detect small genetics changes that impact our health.

"The study identified five different stretches of DNA that contained single code variations, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) -- that were associated with ovarian cancer risk.

"This is the equivalent of finding five individual spelling mistakes in over 200,000 pages of text. Four of the five new DNA variations were more common in women who had developed the most common and aggressive form of disease known as serous ovarian cancer."