Prognosis of early-onset breast cancer based on BRCA1/2 mutation status in a French population-based cohort and review.

Purpose: The debate concerning poorer survival for patients with breast cancer (BC) carrying a BRCA1 germline mutation is unresolved, and requires additional data from population-based studies.

Patients And Methods: We followed 232 women with invasive BC under age 46, ascertained prospectively through a French population-based BC registry and tested for BRCA1/2 mutations (median follow-up: 82 months). We compared tumour characteristics and survival rates between 21 BRCA1/2 deleterious mutation carriers and 211 non-carriers.