Genetic variants and haplotype analyses of the ZBRK1/ZNF350 gene in high-risk non BRCA1/2 French Canadian breast and ovarian cancer families.

Our current understanding of breast cancer susceptibility involves mutations in the 2 major genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, found in about 25% of high-risk families, as well as few other low penetrance genes such as ATM and CHEK2. Approximately two-thirds of the multiple cases families remain to be explained by mutations in still unknown genes. In a candidate gene approach to identify new genes potentially involved in breast cancer susceptibility, we analyzed genomic variants in the ZBRK1 gene, a co-repressor implicated in BRCA1-mediated repression of GADD45.

Germline mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility gene PTEN are rare in high-risk non-BRCA1/2 French Canadian breast cancer families.

Cowden syndrome is a disease associated with an increase in breast cancer susceptibility. Alleles in PTEN and other breast cancer susceptibility genes would be responsible for approximately 25% of the familial component of breast cancer risk, BRCA1 and BRCA2 being the two major genes responsible for this inherited risk. In order to evaluate the proportion of high-risk French Canadian non-BRCA1/BRCA2 breast/ovarian cancer families potentially harboring a PTEN germline mutation, the whole coding and flanking intronic sequences were analyzed in a series of 98 breast cancer cases.

Mutation analysis and characterization of ATR sequence variants in breast cancer cases from high-risk French Canadian breast/ovarian cancer families.

Background: Ataxia telangiectasia-mutated and Rad3-related (ATR) is a member of the PIK-related family which plays, along with ATM, a central role in cell-cycle regulation. ATR has been shown to phosphorylate several tumor suppressors like BRCA1, CHEK1 and TP53. ATR appears as a good candidate breast cancer susceptibility gene and the current study was designed to screen for ATR germline mutations potentially involved in breast cancer predisposition.

Evaluation of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation prevalence, risk prediction models and a multistep testing approach in French-Canadian families with high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Background And Objective: In clinical settings with fixed resources allocated to predictive genetic testing for high-risk cancer predisposition genes, optimal strategies for mutation screening programmes are critically important. These depend on the mutation spectrum found in the population under consideration and the frequency of mutations detected as a function of the personal and family history of cancer, which are both affected by the presence of founder mutations and demographic characteristics of the underlying population. The results of multistep genetic testing for mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 in a large series of families with breast cancer in the French-Canadian population of Quebec, Canada are reported.

No Evidence of BRCA1/2 genomic rearrangements in high-risk French-Canadian breast/ovarian cancer families.

The discovery of deleterious mutations in the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, has facilitated the identification of individuals at particularly high risk of these diseases. There is a wide variation between populations in the prevalence and related risks of various types of BRCA1/2 mutations, so estimates cannot be extrapolated to Canadians, especially not founder populations such as French- Canadians. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods were used to detect the majority of these mutations.