Population-based study of BRCA1/2 mutations: family history based criteria identify minority of mutation carriers.
Abstract
The two major susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, are involved in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome. Early detection of mutation carriers has crucial clinical importance, as it allows identification of women who may benefit from intensive clinical follow-up or prophylactic surgery.
Generally accepted inclusion criteria for BRCA1/2 mutation testing are based either upon family history of breast or ovarian cancer or young age at cancer diagnosis. In order to analyze the impact of BRCA1/2 mutations on breast cancer development in the Czech population and to confront the clinical and histopathological data of mutation carriers with current criteria for mutation testing we examined the frequency of mutations in unselected breast cancer cases.
Mutational analysis of BRCA1/2 genes performed in 679 unselected female breast cancer patients included all recurrent deleterious alterations previously identified in the Prague area and truncating mutations in the whole exon 11 of BRCA1.