Mitochondrial genome in sporadic breast cancer: A case control study and a proteomic analysis in a Sinhalese cohort from Sri Lanka.

Breast cancer is the commonest malignancy in women and the majority occurs sporadically with no hereditary predisposition. However, sporadic breast cancer has been studied less intensively than the hereditary form and to date hardly any predictive biomarkers exist for the former. Furthermore, although mitochondrial DNA variants have been reported to be associated with breast cancer, findings have been inconsistent across populations.

Mitochondrial DNA (CA) dinucleotide repeat variations in Sinhalese and Vedda populations in Sri Lanka.

Sinhalese and Vedda people are respectively the major ethnic group and the descendants of the probably earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka, both believed to have a long history of settlement on the island. However, very little information is available on the origin and possible migration patterns of the two populations. Some studies have focused on (CA) dinucleotide repeat variations located in the mitochondrial hypervariable region 3 (HVS3) (base pairs 514-524) as a useful biomarker to understand migration patterns of different populations.