Clinical Characteristics of Korean Breast Cancer Patients Who Carry Pathogenic Germline Mutations in Both BRCA1 and BRCA2: A Single-Center Experience.

Abstract

There are few reports of breast cancer patients who carry germline mutations in both germline breast cancer susceptibility genes 1 (gBRCA1) and 2 (gBRCA2). In this study, we analyzed the clinical, pathological, and genomic characteristics of Korean breast cancer patients with both gBRCA1 and gBRCA2 mutations. Medical records of patients who received gBRCA1 and gBRCA2 testing at Samsung Medical Center between January 2007 to October 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes. Among a total of 2720 patients, four patients with both gBRCA1 and gBRCA2 mutations were identified (4/2720; 0.14%). Seven patients who had a gBRCA1 mutation and gBRCA2 variants of uncertain significance (VUS) were also identified. In those patients with both gBRCA1 and gBRCA2 mutations, the mean age at diagnosis for breast cancer was 36 years (range, 31–43 years). All four tumors were infiltrating ductal carcinomas and three of the tumors were estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (triple-negative). All four patients who carried germline mutations in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 had a family history of breast/ovarian cancer. Pathologic stage was II in three patients and I in one patient. Breast cancer patients with both gBRCA1 and gBRCA2 mutations were rare, young at diagnosis, and all but one tumor was triple-negative based on our single-center experience.