Association of germline variation with the survival of women with pathogenic variants and breast cancer.

Germline genetic variation has been suggested to influence the survival of breast cancer patients independently of tumor pathology. We have studied survival associations of genetic variants in two etiologically unique groups of breast cancer patients, the carriers of germline pathogenic variants in or genes. We found that rs57025206 was significantly associated with the overall survival, predicting higher mortality of carrier patients with estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer, with a hazard ratio 4.

Meta-analysis of three genome-wide association studies identifies two loci that predict survival and treatment outcome in breast cancer.

The majority of breast cancers are driven by the female hormone oestrogen via oestrogen receptor (ER) alpha. ER-positive patients are commonly treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy, however, resistance is a common occurrence and aside from ER-status, no unequivocal predictive biomarkers are currently in clinical use. In this study, we aimed to identify constitutional genetic variants influencing breast cancer survival among ER-positive patients and specifically, among endocrine-treated patients.

Two missense mutations in KCNQ1 cause pituitary hormone deficiency and maternally inherited gingival fibromatosis.

Familial growth hormone deficiency provides an opportunity to identify new genetic causes of short stature. Here we combine linkage analysis with whole-genome resequencing in patients with growth hormone deficiency and maternally inherited gingival fibromatosis. We report that patients from three unrelated families harbor either of two missense mutations, c.

Family history influences the tumor characteristics and prognosis of breast cancers developing during postmenopausal hormone therapy.

Long term use of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) has been reported to increase breast cancer risk. On the other hand, observational studies suggest that breast cancers diagnosed during HT may have a more favorable prognosis. While family history is a risk factor for breast cancer, and genetic factors also influence prognosis, the role of family history in combination with HT use has been little studied.

TP53-based interaction analysis identifies cis-eQTL variants for TP53BP2, FBXO28, and FAM53A that associate with survival and treatment outcome in breast cancer.

TP53 overexpression is indicative of somatic TP53 mutations and associates with aggressive tumors and poor prognosis in breast cancer. We utilized a two-stage SNP association study to detect variants associated with breast cancer survival in a TP53-dependent manner. Initially, a genome-wide study (n = 575 cases) was conducted to discover candidate SNPs for genotyping and validation in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC).

FANCM c.5101C>T mutation associates with breast cancer survival and treatment outcome.

Breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease, and different tumor characteristics and genetic variation may affect the clinical outcome. The FANCM c.5101C > T nonsense mutation in the Finnish population associates with increased risk of breast cancer, especially for triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Polygenic risk score is associated with increased disease risk in 52 Finnish breast cancer families.

The risk of developing breast cancer is increased in women with family history of breast cancer and particularly in families with multiple cases of breast or ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, many women with a positive family history never develop the disease. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) based on the risk effects of multiple common genetic variants have been proposed for individual risk assessment on a population level.

Heterogeneity of luminal breast cancer characterised by immunohistochemical expression of basal markers.

Background: Luminal A breast cancer defined as hormone receptor positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) negative is known to be heterogeneous. Previous study showed that luminal A tumours with the expression of basal markers ((cytokeratin (CK) 5 or CK5/6) or epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)) were associated with poorer prognosis compared with those that stained negative for basal markers. Prompted by this study, we assessed whether tumour characteristics and risk factors differed by basal marker status within luminal A tumours.

A polymorphism in the base excision repair gene PARP2 is associated with differential prognosis by chemotherapy among postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

Background: Personalized therapy considering clinical and genetic patient characteristics will further improve breast cancer survival. Two widely used treatments, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, can induce oxidative DNA damage and, if not repaired, cell death. Since base excision repair (BER) activity is specific for oxidative DNA damage, we hypothesized that germline genetic variation in this pathway will affect breast cancer-specific survival depending on treatment.

Genetic variation in the immunosuppression pathway genes and breast cancer susceptibility: a pooled analysis of 42,510 cases and 40,577 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

Immunosuppression plays a pivotal role in assisting tumors to evade immune destruction and promoting tumor development. We hypothesized that genetic variation in the immunosuppression pathway genes may be implicated in breast cancer tumorigenesis. We included 42,510 female breast cancer cases and 40,577 controls of European ancestry from 37 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (2015) with available genotype data for 3595 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 133 candidate genes.

SNP-SNP interaction analysis of NF-κB signaling pathway on breast cancer survival.

In breast cancer, constitutive activation of NF-κB has been reported, however, the impact of genetic variation of the pathway on patient prognosis has been little studied. Furthermore, a combination of genetic variants, rather than single polymorphisms, may affect disease prognosis. Here, in an extensive dataset (n = 30,431) from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium, we investigated the association of 917 SNPs in 75 genes in the NF-κB pathway with breast cancer prognosis.

Annexin A1 expression in a pooled breast cancer series: association with tumor subtypes and prognosis.

Background: Annexin A1 (ANXA1) is a protein related with the carcinogenesis process and metastasis formation in many tumors. However, little is known about the prognostic value of ANXA1 in breast cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between ANXA1 expression, BRCA1/2 germline carriership, specific tumor subtypes and survival in breast cancer patients.

Common germline polymorphisms associated with breast cancer-specific survival.

Introduction: Previous studies have identified common germline variants nominally associated with breast cancer survival. These associations have not been widely replicated in further studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of previously reported SNPs with breast cancer-specific survival using data from a pooled analysis of eight breast cancer survival genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

Identification of novel genetic markers of breast cancer survival.

Background: Survival after a diagnosis of breast cancer varies considerably between patients, and some of this variation may be because of germline genetic variation. We aimed to identify genetic markers associated with breast cancer-specific survival.

Methods: We conducted a large meta-analysis of studies in populations of European ancestry, including 37954 patients with 2900 deaths from breast cancer.

The SNP rs6500843 in 16p13.3 is associated with survival specifically among chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients.

We have utilized a two-stage study design to search for SNPs associated with the survival of breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Our initial GWS data set consisted of 805 Finnish breast cancer cases (360 treated with adjuvant chemotherapy). The top 39 SNPs from this stage were analyzed in three independent data sets: iCOGS (n=6720 chemotherapy-treated cases), SUCCESS-A (n=3596), and POSH (n=518).

Performance of automated scoring of ER, PR, HER2, CK5/6 and EGFR in breast cancer tissue microarrays in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

Breast cancer risk factors and clinical outcomes vary by tumour marker expression. However, individual studies often lack the power required to assess these relationships, and large-scale analyses are limited by the need for high throughput, standardized scoring methods. To address these limitations, we assessed whether automated image analysis of immunohistochemically stained tissue microarrays can permit rapid, standardized scoring of tumour markers from multiple studies.

INPP4B and RAD50 have an interactive effect on survival after breast cancer.

Genes sharing similar genomic landscape have the potential to interactively orchestrate certain clinicopathological features of a disease. Deletion of the RAD50 gene is a common event particularly in basal-like breast cancer, and often occurs together with deletions of BRCA1, RB1, TP53, PTEN, and INPP4B. In this study, we investigate whether these co-deleted genes have interactive effects on survival in breast cancer.

Genetic variation in mitotic regulatory pathway genes is associated with breast tumor grade.

Mitotic index is an important component of histologic grade and has an etiologic role in breast tumorigenesis. Several small candidate gene studies have reported associations between variation in mitotic genes and breast cancer risk. We measured associations between 2156 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 194 mitotic genes and breast cancer risk, overall and by histologic grade, in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) iCOGS study (n = 39 067 cases; n = 42 106 controls).

High expression of ZNF703 independent of amplification indicates worse prognosis in patients with luminal B breast cancer.

Amplification of 8p12-p11 is relatively common in breast cancer and several genes within the region have been suggested to affect breast tumor progression. The aim of the study was to map the amplified 8p12-p11 region in a large set of breast tumors in an effort to identify the genetic driver and to explore its impact on tumor progression and prognosis. Copy number alterations (CNAs) were mapped in 359 tumors, and gene expression data from 577 tumors (359 tumors included) were correlated with CNA, clinical-pathological factors, and protein expression (39 tumors).

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) expression is associated with breast cancer tumor phenotype and predicts survival after anthracycline chemotherapy treatment.

Abnormal translation of mRNAs frequently occurring during carcinogenesis is among the mechanisms that can affect the expression of proteins involved in tumor development and progression. Eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4E is a key regulator of translation of many cancer-related transcripts and its expression is altered in various cancers and has been associated with worse survival. We determined the eIF4E protein levels using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 1,233 breast tumors on tissue microarrays.

The retinoblastoma gene undergoes rearrangements in BRCA1-deficient basal-like breast cancer.

Breast tumors from BRCA1 germ line mutation carriers typically exhibit features of the basal-like molecular subtype. However, the specific genes recurrently mutated as a consequence of BRCA1 dysfunction have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we used gene expression profiling to molecularly subtype 577 breast tumors, including 73 breast tumors from BRCA1/2 mutation carriers.