Publications by authors named "Carolien M Kets"

Purpose: To evaluate the association between a previously published 313 variant-based breast cancer (BC) polygenic risk score (PRS) and contralateral breast cancer (CBC) risk, in BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant heterozygotes.

Methods: We included women of European ancestry with a prevalent first primary invasive BC (BRCA1 = 6,591 with 1,402 prevalent CBC cases; BRCA2 = 4,208 with 647 prevalent CBC cases) from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA), a large international retrospective series. Cox regression analysis was performed to assess the association between overall and ER-specific PRS and CBC risk.

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Background: Height and body mass index (BMI) are associated with higher ovarian cancer risk in the general population, but whether such associations exist among BRCA1/2 mutation carriers is unknown.

Methods: We applied a Mendelian randomisation approach to examine height/BMI with ovarian cancer risk using the Consortium of Investigators for the Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA) data set, comprising 14,676 BRCA1 and 7912 BRCA2 mutation carriers, with 2923 ovarian cancer cases. We created a height genetic score (height-GS) using 586 height-associated variants and a BMI genetic score (BMI-GS) using 93 BMI-associated variants.

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Background: BRCA1/2 mutations confer high lifetime risk of breast cancer, although other factors may modify this risk. Whether height or body mass index (BMI) modifies breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers remains unclear.

Methods: We used Mendelian randomization approaches to evaluate the association of height and BMI on breast cancer risk, using data from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 with 14 676 BRCA1 and 7912 BRCA2 mutation carriers, including 11 451 cases of breast cancer.

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Most common breast cancer susceptibility variants have been identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of predominantly estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease. We conducted a GWAS using 21,468 ER-negative cases and 100,594 controls combined with 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9,414 with breast cancer), all of European origin. We identified independent associations at P < 5 × 10 with ten variants at nine new loci.

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Importance: The clinical management of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers requires accurate, prospective cancer risk estimates.

Objectives: To estimate age-specific risks of breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancer for mutation carriers and to evaluate risk modification by family cancer history and mutation location.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective cohort study of 6036 BRCA1 and 3820 BRCA2 female carriers (5046 unaffected and 4810 with breast or ovarian cancer or both at baseline) recruited in 1997-2011 through the International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study, the Breast Cancer Family Registry and the Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer, with ascertainment through family clinics (94%) and population-based studies (6%).

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Purpose: Cis-acting regulatory SNPs resulting in differential allelic expression (DAE) may, in part, explain the underlying phenotypic variation associated with many complex diseases. To investigate whether common variants associated with DAE were involved in breast cancer susceptibility among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, a list of 175 genes was developed based of their involvement in cancer-related pathways.

Methods: Using data from a genome-wide map of SNPs associated with allelic expression, we assessed the association of ~320 SNPs located in the vicinity of these genes with breast and ovarian cancer risks in 15,252 BRCA1 and 8211 BRCA2 mutation carriers ascertained from 54 studies participating in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2.

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Introduction: Individuals carrying pathogenic mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a high lifetime risk of breast cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in DNA double-strand break repair, DNA alterations that can be caused by exposure to reactive oxygen species, a main source of which are mitochondria. Mitochondrial genome variations affect electron transport chain efficiency and reactive oxygen species production.

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Importance: Limited information about the relationship between specific mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) and cancer risk exists.

Objective: To identify mutation-specific cancer risks for carriers of BRCA1/2.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Observational study of women who were ascertained between 1937 and 2011 (median, 1999) and found to carry disease-associated BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

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Common genetic variants contribute to the observed variation in breast cancer risk for BRCA2 mutation carriers; those known to date have all been found through population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To comprehensively identify breast cancer risk modifying loci for BRCA2 mutation carriers, we conducted a deep replication of an ongoing GWAS discovery study. Using the ranked P-values of the breast cancer associations with the imputed genotype of 1.

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During cancer genetic counseling, different items which counselors consider important are discussed. However, relatively little empirical evidence exists regarding the needs and preferences of counselees. In this study needs and preferences were assessed from counselees with a personal and/or family history of colorectal cancer (CRC), who were referred for genetic counseling regarding CRC.

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Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive segmental progeroid syndrome caused by null mutations at the WRN locus, which codes for a member of the RecQ family of DNA helicases. Since 1988, the International Registry of Werner syndrome had enrolled 130 molecularly confirmed WS cases from among 110 worldwide pedigrees. We now report 18 new mutations, including two genomic rearrangements, a deep intronic mutation resulting in a novel exon, a splice consensus mutation leading to utilization of the nearby splice site, and two rare missense mutations.

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Identifying patients with germline MUTYH mutation-associated polyposis is presently difficult. The aim of this study is to investigate the possibilities of IHC as a screening test to select patients for MUTYH mutation analysis. The expression of MUTYH protein in colorectal adenomas or cancer was studied by IHC using three different (1 polyclonal and 2 monoclonal) antibodies in six samples from patients with biallelic MUTYH mutations, in three samples from patients with a single MUTYH mutation, and in 11 samples from patients without MUTYH mutations.

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Mono-allelic germline mutations in mismatch repair (MMR) genes lead to Lynch syndrome, an autosomal dominant syndrome with an increased risk of predominantly colorectal and endometrial cancers. Bi-allelic germline mutations in MMR genes predispose to haematological malignancies, brain tumours, gastrointestinal tumours, polyposis and features of neurofibromatosis type 1 in early childhood.We report a brother and a sister with bi-allelic germline mutations in MSH2; a pathogenic deletion of the first 6 exons and a variant of the initiation codon (c.

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A high degree of microsatellite instability (MSI) in colorectal cancer (CRC) is a hallmark of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), caused by germline defects in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes. A low degree of instability (less than 30% of the microsatellites) is seen in a subset of tumors. To clarify the significance of this low degree of MSI phenotype, we studied the differences between patients with colorectal tumors with high-level, low-level and no MSI.

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