Background: Breast Cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Sri Lankan women. Germline mutations in the susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 in hereditary breast/ovarian cancer, though low in prevalence, are highly penetrant and show geographical variations. There have been only a few reports from Asia on mutations in BRCA1/2 genes and none from Sri Lanka.
Methods: A total of 130 patients with (N = 66) and without (N = 64) a family history of breast cancer, 70 unaffected individuals with a family history of breast cancer and 40 control subjects were analysed for BRCA1 mutations. All but exon 11 were screened by single strand conformation analysis (SSCP) and heteroduplex analysis. PCR products which showed abnormal patterns in SSCP were sequenced. Exon 11 was directly sequenced.
Results: Nineteen sequence variants were found in BRCA1 gene. Two novel deleterious frame-shift mutations; c.3086delT/exon11 (in one patient) and c.5404delG/exon21 (in one patient and two of her family members) were identified. A possibly pathogenic novel missense mutation (c.856T>G/exon 11) and three novel intronic variants (IVS7+36C>T, IVS7+41C>T, IVS7+49del15) were characterised. Ten previously reported common polymorphisms and three previously reported intronic variants were also observed.
Conclusion: After screening of 66 patients with family history and 64 sporadic breast cancer patients, 2 deleterious mutations (c.3086delT and c.5404delG) in two families were identified and two more possibly pathogenic mutations (c.856T>G and IVS17-2A>T) in two families were identified.
Data base: BRCA1--Gene Bank: Accession # U14680 Version # 14680.1.