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Epidemiological and ES cell-based functional evaluation of BRCA2 variants identified in families with breast cancer.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Sullivan, Teresa 
Thirthagiri, Eswary 
Chong, Chan-Eng 
Stauffer, Stacey 
Reid, Susan 

Abstract

The discovery of high-risk breast cancer susceptibility genes, such as Breast cancer associated gene 1 (BRCA1) and Breast cancer associated gene 2 (BRCA2) has led to accurate identification of individuals for risk management and targeted therapy. The rapid decline in sequencing costs has tremendously increased the number of individuals who are undergoing genetic testing world-wide. However, given the significant differences in population-specific variants, interpreting the results of these tests can be challenging especially for novel genetic variants in understudied populations. Here we report the characterization of novel variants in the Malaysian and Singaporean population that consist of different ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese, Indian, and other indigenous groups). We have evaluated the functional significance of 14 BRCA2 variants of uncertain clinical significance by using multiple in silico prediction tools and examined their frequency in a cohort of 7840 breast cancer cases and 7928 healthy controls. In addition, we have used a mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC)-based functional assay to assess the impact of these variants on BRCA2 function. We found these variants to be functionally indistinguishable from wild-type BRCA2. These variants could fully rescue the lethality of Brca2-null mESCs and exhibited no sensitivity to six different DNA damaging agents including a poly ADP ribose polymerase inhibitor. Our findings strongly suggest that all 14 evaluated variants are functionally neutral. Our findings should be valuable in risk assessment of individuals carrying these variants.

Description

Keywords

BRCA2, ES cell-based assay, breast cancer, functional evaluation, molecular dynamic analysis, variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS), Animals, BRCA1 Protein, BRCA2 Protein, Breast Neoplasms, Cohort Studies, Female, Genes, BRCA2, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Humans, Malaysia, Mice

Journal Title

Hum Mutat

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1059-7794
1098-1004

Volume Title

42

Publisher

Hindawi Limited

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (203477/Z/16/Z)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Societal Challenges (634935)