Purpose: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has proposed guidelines for the genetic testing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, based on studies in western populations. This current study assessed potential predictive factors for BRCA mutation probability, in an Asian population.
Methods: A total of 359 breast cancer patients, who presented with either a family history (FH) of breast and/or ovarian cancer or early onset breast cancer, were accrued at the National Cancer Center Singapore (NCCS). The relationships between clinico-pathological features and mutational status were calculated using the Chi-squared test and binary logistic regression analysis.
Results: Of 359 patients, 45 (12.5%) had deleterious or damaging missense mutations in BRCA1 and/or BRCA2. BRCA1 mutations were more likely to be found in ER-negative than ER-positive breast cancer patients (P=0.01). Moreover, ER-negative patients with BRCA mutations were diagnosed at an earlier age (40 vs. 48 years, P=0.008). Similarly, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients were more likely to have BRCA1 mutations (P=0.001) and that these patients were diagnosed at a relatively younger age than non-TNBC patients (38 vs. 46 years, P=0.028). Our analysis has confirmed that ER-negative status, TNBC status and a FH of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) are strong factors predicting the likelihood of having BRCA mutations.
Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that TNBC or ER-negative patients may benefit from BRCA genetic testing, particularly younger patients (<40 years) or those with a strong FH of HBOC, in Asian patients.