A major locus for hereditary prostate cancer in Finland: localization by linkage disequilibrium of a haplotype in the HPCX region.

Background: Prostate cancer (PRCA) is the most common cancer in males in the western world. In Finland PRCA has an age-adjusted incidence of 81.5 per 100,000.

BRCA2 mutations in 154 finnish male breast cancer patients.

The etiology and pathogenesis of male breast cancer (MBC) are poorly known. This is due to the fact that the disease is rare, and large-scale genetic epidemiologic studies have been difficult to carry out. Here, we studied the frequency of eight recurrent Finnish BRCA2 founder mutations in a large cohort of 154 MBC patients (65% diagnosed in Finland from 1967 to 1996).

Genome-wide scan for linkage in finnish hereditary prostate cancer (HPC) families identifies novel susceptibility loci at 11q14 and 3p25-26.

Background: In order to identify predisposition loci to hereditary prostate cancer (HPC), we performed a genome-wide linkage analysis using samples from a genetically homogeneous population, with 13 Finnish multiplex prostate cancer families.

Methods: Altogether 87 DNA samples were genotyped from 13 families. Logarithm-of-odds (LOD) scores were calculated for all autosomes using FASTLINK and GENEHUNTER designating all unaffected men and all women as unknown.

Genome-wide scanning for linkage in Finnish breast cancer families.

Only a proportion of breast cancer families has germline mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, suggesting the presence of additional susceptibility genes. Finding such genes by linkage analysis has turned out to be difficult due to the genetic heterogeneity of the disease, phenocopies and incomplete penetrance of the mutations. Isolated populations may be helpful in reducing the level of genetic heterogeneity and in providing useful starting points for further genetic analyses.

Androgen receptor gene alterations in Finnish male breast cancer.

Mutations in the androgen receptor (AR) gene have been suggested to predispose to male breast cancer (MBC). Studies on MBC patients have not been based on the mutation screening of the entire coding region of the AR and the number of subjects has been small. Therefore, some AR gene alterations may have remained undetected.

A genomic map of a 6-Mb region at 13q21-q22 implicated in cancer development: identification and characterization of candidate genes.

Chromosomal region 13q21-q22 harbors a putative breast cancer susceptibility gene and has been implicated as a common site for somatic deletions in a variety of malignant tumors. We have built a complete physical clone contig for a region between D13S1308 and AFM220YE9 based on 18 yeast artificial chromosome and 81 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones linked together by 22 genetic markers and 61 other sequence tagged sites. Combining data from 47 sequenced BACs (as of June 2001), we have assembled in silico an integrated 5.