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- Title
Germline BRCA1 mutations and a basal epithelial phenotype in breast cancer.
- Authors
Foulkes, William D; Stefansson, Ingunn M; Chappuis, Pierre O; Bégin, Louis R; Goffin, John R; Wong, Nora; Trudel, Michel; Akslen, Lars A
- Abstract
A basal epithelial phenotype is found in not more than 15% of all invasive breast cancers. Microarray studies have shown that this phenotype is associated with breast cancers that express neither estrogen receptor (ER) nor erbB-2 (HER2/neu) (i.e., ER/erbB-2-negative tumors). The ER/erbB-2- negative phenotype is also found in breast cancers occurring in BRCA1 mutation carriers (i.e., BRCA1-related breast cancers). We tested the hypothesis that BRCA1-related breast cancers are more likely than non-BRCA1/ 2-related breast cancer to express a basal epithelial phenotype. Among 292 breast cancer specimens previously analyzed for ER, erbB-2, p53, and germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, we identified 76 that did not overexpress ER or erbB-2. Of the 72 specimens with sufficient material for testing, 40 expressed stratified epithelial cytokeratin 5 and/or 6 (5/6). In univariate analysis, the expression of cytokeratin 5/6 was statistically significantly associated with BRCA1-related breast cancers (odds ratio = 9.0, 95% confidence interval = 1.9 to 43; P =.002, two-sided Fisher's exact test). Thus, germline BRCA1 mutations appear to be associated with a distinctive breast cancer phenotype.
- Publication
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2003, Vol 95, Issue 19, p1482
- ISSN
1460-2105
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1093/jnci/djg050