Role of Splicing Regulatory Elements and In Silico Tools Usage in the Identification of Deep Intronic Splicing Variants in Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer Genes

Cancer hereditario de mama y ovario; Pseudoexones; Variantes intrónicas profundas spliceogénicasCàncer hereditari de mama i d'ovari; Pseudoexons; Variants intròniques profundes spliceogèniquesHereditary breast ovarian cancer; Pseudoexons; Spliceogenic deep intronic variantsThe contribution of deep intronic splice-altering variants to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) is unknown. Current computational in silico tools to predict spliceogenic variants leading to pseudoexons have limited efficiency. We assessed the performance of the SpliceAI tool combined with ESRseq scores to identify spliceogenic deep intronic variants by affecting cryptic sites or splicing regulatory elements (SREs) using literature and experimental datasets. Our results with 233 published deep intronic variants showed that SpliceAI, with a 0.05 threshold, predicts spliceogenic deep intronic variants affecting cryptic splice sites, but is less effective in detecting those affecting SREs. Next, we characterized the SRE profiles using ESRseq, showing that pseudoexons are significantly enriched in SRE-enhancers compared to adjacent intronic regions. Although the combination of SpliceAI with ESRseq scores (considering ∆ESRseq and SRE landscape) showed higher sensitivity, the global performance did not improve because of the higher number of false positives. The combination of both tools was tested in a tumor RNA dataset with 207 intronic variants disrupting splicing, showing a sensitivity of 86%. Following the pipeline, five spliceogenic deep intronic variants were experimentally identified from 33 variants in HBOC genes. Overall, our results provide a framework to detect deep intronic variants disrupting splicing.This research was funded by the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) funding an initiative of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation, partially supported by European Regional Development FEDER Funds, grant numbers PI16/01218 and PI19/01303. AM-F contract is supported by the award ERAPERMED2019-215 granted by AECC FC and by ISCIII thorough AES 2019, both within the ERAPerMed framework”. J.D.-V. contract is supported by the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund

Breast and Prostate Cancer Risks for Male BRCA1 and BRCA2 Pathogenic Variant Carriers Using Polygenic Risk Scores

Breast and prostate cancer risks; Pathogenic variantRiscos de càncer de mama i pròstata; Variants patogèniquesRiesgos de cáncer de mama y próstata; Variantes patogénicasBackground Recent population-based female breast cancer and prostate cancer polygenic risk scores (PRS) have been developed. We assessed the associations of these PRS with breast and prostate cancer risks for male BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. Methods 483 BRCA1 and 1318 BRCA2 European ancestry male carriers were available from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). A 147-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) prostate cancer PRS (PRSPC) and a 313-SNP breast cancer PRS were evaluated. There were 3 versions of the breast cancer PRS, optimized to predict overall (PRSBC), estrogen receptor (ER)–negative (PRSER-), or ER-positive (PRSER+) breast cancer risk. Results PRSER+ yielded the strongest association with breast cancer risk. The odds ratios (ORs) per PRSER+ standard deviation estimates were 1.40 (95% confidence interval [CI] =1.07 to 1.83) for BRCA1 and 1.33 (95% CI = 1.16 to 1.52) for BRCA2 carriers. PRSPC was associated with prostate cancer risk for BRCA1 (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.28 to 2.33) and BRCA2 (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.34 to 1.91) carriers. The estimated breast cancer odds ratios were larger after adjusting for female relative breast cancer family history. By age 85 years, for BRCA2 carriers, the breast cancer risk varied from 7.7% to 18.4% and prostate cancer risk from 34.1% to 87.6% between the 5th and 95th percentiles of the PRS distributions. Conclusions Population-based prostate and female breast cancer PRS are associated with a wide range of absolute breast and prostate cancer risks for male BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. These findings warrant further investigation aimed at providing personalized cancer risks for male carriers and informing clinical management.The CIMBA data management and data analysis were supported by Cancer Research UK grants C12292/A20861 and PPRPGM-Nov20\100002. The research leading to these results has received funding from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) under IG 2018 - ID. 21389 and the Italian League for the Fight Against Cancer (LILT) under IG 2019 projects, P.I. Ottini Laura and Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research-Dipartimenti di Eccellenza-L. 232/2016. CIMBA: GCT is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Fellow. iCOGS and OncoArray data: the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/A16565), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 - the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defence (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer (CRN-87521), and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (PSR-SIIRI-701), Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The Personalized Risk Stratification for Prevention and Early Detection of Breast Cancer (PERSPECTIVE) and PERSPECTIVE I&I projects were supported by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation through Genome Québec, and The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation and the Ontario Research Fund. Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR): UM1 CA164920 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Baltic Familial Breast Ovarian Cancer Consortium (BFBOCC): Lithuania (BFBOCC-LT): Research Council of Lithuania grant SEN-18/2015. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC): Breast Cancer Research Foundation. BRCA-gene mutations and breast cancer in South African women (BMBSA): Cancer Association of South Africa (PI Elizabeth J. van Rensburg). Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO): Spanish Ministry of Health PI16/00440 supported by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) SAF2014-57680-R and the Spanish Research Network on Rare diseases (CIBERER). City of Hope - Clinical Cancer Genomics Community Research Network (COH-CCGCRN): Research reported in this publication was supported by the NCI of the NIH under grant No. R25CA112486, and RC4CA153828 (PI: J. Weitzel) from the NCI and the Office of the Director, NIH. CONsorzio Studi ITaliani sui Tumori Ereditari Alla Mammella (CONSIT TEAM): Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC; IG2014 No.15547) to P. Radice. Funds from Italian citizens who allocated the 5x1000 share of their tax payment in support of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, according to Italian laws (INT-Institutional strategic projects ‘5x1000’) to S. Manoukian. Associazione CAOS Varese to M.G. Tibiletti. AIRC (IG2015 No.16732) to P. Peterlongo. National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos (DEMOKRITOS): European Union (European Social Fund—ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program of the General Secretariat for Research & Technology: SYN11_10_19 NBCA. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund. German Cancer Research Center (DFKZ): German Cancer Research Center. Epidemiological Study of Familial Breast Cancer (EMBRACE): Cancer Research UK Grants C1287/A10118 and C1287/A11990. D. Gareth Evans and Fiona Lalloo are supported by an National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) grant to the Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester. The Investigators at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust are supported by an NIHR grant to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Ros Eeles and Elizabeth Bancroft are supported by Cancer Research UK Grant C5047/A8385. Ros Eeles is also supported by NIHR support to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC): The University of Kansas Cancer Center (P30 CA168524) and the Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar Program. AKG was in part funded by the NCI (R01 CA214545 and R01 CA140323), The Kansas Institute for Precision Medicine (P20 GM130423), and the Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar Program. A.K.G. is the Chancellors Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Professor. Fundación Pública Galega de Medicina Xenómica (FPGMX): FISPI05/2275 and Mutua Madrileña Foundation (FMMA). German Familial Breast Group (GC-HBOC): German Cancer Aid (grant No. 110837, Rita K. Schmutzler) and the European Regional Development Fund and Free State of Saxony, Germany (LIFE—Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases, project No. 713-241202, No. 713-241202, No. 14505/2470, and No. 14575/2470). Genetic Modifiers of cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers (GEMO): Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer; the Association “Le cancer du sein, parlons-en!” Award, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the “CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer” program and the French National Institute of Cancer (INCa grants 2013-1-BCB-01-ICH-1 and SHS-E-SP 18-015). Georgetown University (GEORGETOWN): the Non-Therapeutic Subject Registry Shared Resource at Georgetown University (NIH/NCI grant P30-CA051008), the Fisher Center for Hereditary Cancer and Clinical Genomics Research, and Swing Fore the Cure. Ghent University Hospital (G-FAST): Bruce Poppe is a senior clinical investigator of FWO. Mattias Van Heetvelde obtained funding from IWT. Hospital Clinico San Carlos (HCSC): Spanish Ministry of Health PI15/00059, PI16/01292, and CB-161200301 CIBERONC from ISCIII (Spain), partially supported by European Regional Development FEDER funds. Helsinki Breast Cancer Study (HEBCS): Helsinki University Hospital Research Fund, the Finnish Cancer Society and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation. Hereditary Breast and Ovarian cancer study the Netherlands (HEBON): the Dutch Cancer Society grants NKI1998-1854, NKI2004-3088, NKI2007-3756, the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research grant NWO 91109024, the Pink Ribbon grants 110005 and 2014-187.WO76, the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) grant NWO 184.021.007/CP46 and the Transcan grant JTC 2012 Cancer 12-054. HEBON thanks the registration teams of Dutch Cancer Registry (IKNL; S. Siesling, J. Verloop) and the Dutch Pathology database (PALGA; L. Overbeek) for part of the data collection. Study of Genetic Mutations in Breast and Ovarian Cancer patients in Hong Kong and Asia (HRBCP): Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, Dr Ellen Li Charitable Foundation, The Kerry Group Kuok Foundation, National Institute of Health1R 03CA130065, and North California Cancer Center. Molecular Genetic Studies of Breast- and Ovarian Cancer in Hungary (HUNBOCS): Hungarian Research Grants KTIA-OTKA CK-80745 and NKFI_OTKA K-112228. Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO): The authors would like to particularly acknowledge the support of the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (organismo adscrito al Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) and “FEDER, una manera de hacer Europa” (PI10/01422, PI13/00285, PIE13/00022, PI15/00854, PI16/00563 and CIBERONC) and the Institut Català de la Salut and Autonomous Government of Catalonia (2009SGR290, 2014SGR338 and PERIS Project MedPerCan). International Hereditary Cancer Centre (IHCC): PBZ_KBN_122/P05/2004. Iceland Landspitali – University Hospital (ILUH): Icelandic Association “Walking for Breast Cancer Research” and by the Landspitali University Hospital Research Fund. INterdisciplinary HEalth Research Internal Team BReast CAncer susceptibility (INHERIT): Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the “CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer” program—grant No. CRN-87521 and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade—grant No. PSR-SIIRI-701. Istituto Oncologico Veneto (IOVHBOCS): Ministero della Salute and “5x1000” Istituto Oncologico Veneto grant. Portuguese Oncology Institute-Porto Breast Cancer Study (IPOBCS): Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro. Kathleen Cuningham Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer (kConFab): The National Breast Cancer Foundation, and previously by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Queensland Cancer Fund, the Cancer Councils of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and the Cancer Foundation of Western Australia. Korean Hereditary Breast Cancer Study (KOHBRA): the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), and the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HI16C1127; 1020350; 1420190). Mayo Clinic (MAYO): NIH grants CA116167, CA192393 and CA176785, an NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer (CA116201), and a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. McGill University (MCGILL): Jewish General Hospital Weekend to End Breast Cancer, Quebec Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade. Marc Tischkowitz is supported by the funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (2007Y2013)/European Research Council (Grant No. 310018). Modifier Study of Quantitative Effects on Disease (MODSQUAD): MH CZ—DRO (MMCI, 00209805), MEYS—NPS I—LO1413 to LF, and by Charles University in Prague project UNCE204024 (MZ). Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC): the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Robert and Kate Niehaus Clinical Cancer Genetics Initiative, the Andrew Sabin Research Fund and a Cancer Center Support Grant/Core Grant (P30 CA008748). Women’s College Research Institute Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Study (NAROD): 1R01 CA149429-01. National Cancer Institute (NCI): the Intramural Research Program of the US NCI, NIH, and by support services contracts NO2-CP-11019-50, N02-CP-21013-63 and N02-CP-65504 with Westat, Inc, Rockville, MD. National Israeli Cancer Control Center (NICCC): Clalit Health Services in Israel, the Israel Cancer Association and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), NY. N.N. Petrov Institute of Oncology (NNPIO): the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grants 17-54-12007, 17-00-00171 and 18-515-12007). NRG Oncology: U10 CA180868, NRG SDMC grant U10 CA180822, NRG Administrative Office and the NRG Tissue Bank (CA 27469), the NRG Statistical and Data Center (CA 37517) and the Intramural Research Program, NCI. The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCG): Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Università di Pisa (PBCS): AIRC [IG 2013 N.14477] and Tuscany Institute for Tumors (ITT) grant 2014-2015-2016. South East Asian Breast Cancer Association Study (SEABASS): Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Higher Education (UM.C/HlR/MOHE/06) and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation. Sheba Medical Centre (SMC): the Israeli Cancer Association. Swedish Breast Cancer Study (SWE-BRCA): the Swedish Cancer Society. University of Chicago (UCHICAGO): NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer (CA125183), R01 CA142996, 1U01CA161032 and by the Ralph and Marion Falk Medical Research Trust, the Entertainment Industry Fund National Women’s Cancer Research Alliance and the Breast Cancer research Foundation. OIO is an American Cancer Society (ACS) Clinical Research Professor. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA): Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation; Breast Cancer Research Foundation. University of California San Francisco (UCSF): UCSF Cancer Risk Program and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. UK Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (UKFOCR): Cancer Research UK. University of Pennsylvania (UPENN): NIH (R01-CA102776 and R01-CA083855); Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure, Basser Research Center for BRCA. Cancer Family Registry University of Pittsburg (UPITT/MWH): Hackers for Hope Pittsburgh. Victorian Familial Cancer Trials Group (VFCTG): Victorian Cancer Agency, Cancer Australia, National Breast Cancer Foundation. Women’s Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (WCP): Dr Karlan is funded by the ACS Early Detection Professorship (SIOP-06-258-01-COUN) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Grant UL1TR000124. TN-D is a recipient of a Career Development Fellow from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (Australia, ECF-17-001)

Copy number variants as modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers

Cancer; Cancer geneticsCàncer; Genètica del càncerCáncer; Genética del cáncerThe contribution of germline copy number variants (CNVs) to risk of developing cancer in individuals with pathogenic BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants remains relatively unknown. We conducted the largest genome-wide analysis of CNVs in 15,342 BRCA1 and 10,740 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. We used these results to prioritise a candidate breast cancer risk-modifier gene for laboratory analysis and biological validation. Notably, the HR for deletions in BRCA1 suggested an elevated breast cancer risk estimate (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.21), 95% confidence interval (95% CI = 1.09–1.35) compared with non-CNV pathogenic variants. In contrast, deletions overlapping SULT1A1 suggested a decreased breast cancer risk (HR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.91) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers. Functional analyses of SULT1A1 showed that reduced mRNA expression in pathogenic BRCA1 variant cells was associated with reduced cellular proliferation and reduced DNA damage after treatment with DNA damaging agents. These data provide evidence that deleterious variants in BRCA1 plus SULT1A1 deletions contribute to variable breast cancer risk in BRCA1 carriers

A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers

Càncer de mama; Genètica del càncer; Factors de riscCáncer de mama; Genética del cáncer; Factores de riesgoBreast cancer; Cancer genetics; Risk factorsBreast cancer (BC) risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers varies by genetic and familial factors. About 50 common variants have been shown to modify BC risk for mutation carriers. All but three, were identified in general population studies. Other mutation carrier-specific susceptibility variants may exist but studies of mutation carriers have so far been underpowered. We conduct a novel case-only genome-wide association study comparing genotype frequencies between 60,212 general population BC cases and 13,007 cases with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. We identify robust novel associations for 2 variants with BC for BRCA1 and 3 for BRCA2 mutation carriers, P < 10−8, at 5 loci, which are not associated with risk in the general population. They include rs60882887 at 11p11.2 where MADD, SP11 and EIF1, genes previously implicated in BC biology, are predicted as potential targets. These findings will contribute towards customising BC polygenic risk scores for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

Polygenic risk modeling for prediction of epithelial ovarian cancer risk

Clinical genetics; Genetic markers; Risk factorsGenética clínica; Marcadores genéticos; Factores de riesgoGenètica clínica; Marcadors genètics; Factors de riscPolygenic risk scores (PRS) for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have the potential to improve risk stratification. Joint estimation of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) effects in models could improve predictive performance over standard approaches of PRS construction. Here, we implemented computationally efficient, penalized, logistic regression models (lasso, elastic net, stepwise) to individual level genotype data and a Bayesian framework with continuous shrinkage, “select and shrink for summary statistics” (S4), to summary level data for epithelial non-mucinous ovarian cancer risk prediction. We developed the models in a dataset consisting of 23,564 non-mucinous EOC cases and 40,138 controls participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) and validated the best models in three populations of different ancestries: prospective data from 198,101 women of European ancestries; 7,669 women of East Asian ancestries; 1,072 women of African ancestries, and in 18,915 BRCA1 and 12,337 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers of European ancestries. In the external validation data, the model with the strongest association for non-mucinous EOC risk derived from the OCAC model development data was the S4 model (27,240 SNPs) with odds ratios (OR) of 1.38 (95% CI: 1.28–1.48, AUC: 0.588) per unit standard deviation, in women of European ancestries; 1.14 (95% CI: 1.08–1.19, AUC: 0.538) in women of East Asian ancestries; 1.38 (95% CI: 1.21–1.58, AUC: 0.593) in women of African ancestries; hazard ratios of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.29–1.43, AUC: 0.592) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.35–1.64, AUC: 0.624) in BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. Incorporation of the S4 PRS in risk prediction models for ovarian cancer may have clinical utility in ovarian cancer prevention programs

BARD1 Pathogenic Variants Are Associated with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in a Spanish Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Cohort

BARD1; Càncer hereditari de mama i ovari; Risc moderat de càncerBARD1; Cáncer de mama y ovario hereditario; Riesgo de cáncer moderadoBARD1; Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer; Moderate cancer riskOnly a small fraction of hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer (HBOC) cases are caused by germline variants in the high-penetrance breast cancer 1 and 2 genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). BRCA1-associated ring domain 1 (BARD1), nuclear partner of BRCA1, has been suggested as a potential HBOC risk gene, although its prevalence and penetrance are variable according to populations and type of tumor. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of BARD1 truncating variants in a cohort of patients with clinical suspicion of HBOC. A comprehensive BARD1 screening by multigene panel analysis was performed in 4015 unrelated patients according to our regional guidelines for genetic testing in hereditary cancer. In addition, 51,202 Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) non-Finnish, non-cancer European individuals were used as a control population. In our patient cohort, we identified 19 patients with heterozygous BARD1 truncating variants (0.47%), whereas the frequency observed in the gnomAD controls was 0.12%. We found a statistically significant association of truncating BARD1 variants with overall risk (odds ratio (OR) = 3.78; CI = 2.10–6.48; p = 1.16 × 10−5). This association remained significant in the hereditary breast cancer (HBC) group (OR = 4.18; CI = 2.10–7.70; p = 5.45 × 10−5). Furthermore, deleterious BARD1 variants were enriched among triple-negative BC patients (OR = 5.40; CI = 1.77–18.15; p = 0.001) compared to other BC subtypes. Our results support the role of BARD1 as a moderate penetrance BC predisposing gene and highlight a stronger association with triple-negative tumors.Contract grant sponsor: Supported by the Carlos III National Health Institute funded by FEDER funds—a way to build Europe—(PI19/00553; PI16/00563; PI16/01898; PI16/11363; PI15/00355; PI12/02585; SAF2015-68016-R and CIBERONC); the Government of Catalonia (Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS_MedPerCan and URDCat projects), 2017SGR1282 and 2017SGR496); and CERCA Programa/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. GCAT is supported by Acción de Dinamización del ISCIII-MINECO (ADE 10/00026), by the Ministry of Health of the Generalitat of Catalunya and by Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) (2017-SGR 529) and GCAT Cession Research Project PI-2018-09 GCAT_CM

Evaluation of the association of heterozygous germline variants in NTHL1 with breast cancer predisposition: an international multi-center study of 47,180 subjects

Càncer de mama; Genètica del càncer; MutacióCáncer de mama; Genética del cáncer; MutaciónBreast cancer; Cancer genetics; MutationBi-allelic loss-of-function (LoF) variants in the base excision repair (BER) gene NTHL1 cause a high-risk hereditary multi-tumor syndrome that includes breast cancer, but the contribution of heterozygous variants to hereditary breast cancer is unknown. An analysis of 4985 women with breast cancer, enriched for familial features, and 4786 cancer-free women revealed significant enrichment for NTHL1 LoF variants. Immunohistochemistry confirmed reduced NTHL1 expression in tumors from heterozygous carriers but the NTHL1 bi-allelic loss characteristic mutational signature (SBS 30) was not present. The analysis was extended to 27,421 breast cancer cases and 19,759 controls from 10 international studies revealing 138 cases and 93 controls with a heterozygous LoF variant (OR 1.06, 95% CI: 0.82–1.39) and 316 cases and 179 controls with a missense variant (OR 1.31, 95% CI: 1.09–1.57). Missense variants selected for deleterious features by a number of in silico bioinformatic prediction tools or located within the endonuclease III functional domain showed a stronger association with breast cancer. Somatic sequencing of breast cancers from carriers indicated that the risk associated with NTHL1 appears to operate through haploinsufficiency, consistent with other described low-penetrance breast cancer genes. Data from this very large international multicenter study suggests that heterozygous pathogenic germline coding variants in NTHL1 may be associated with low- to moderate- increased risk of breast cancer

Clinical consequences of BRCA2 hypomorphism

Breast cancer; Cancer geneticsCáncer de mama; Genética del cáncerCàncer de mama; Genètica del càncerThe tumor suppressor FANCD1/BRCA2 is crucial for DNA homologous recombination repair (HRR). BRCA2 biallelic pathogenic variants result in a severe form of Fanconi anemia (FA) syndrome, whereas monoallelic pathogenic variants cause mainly hereditary breast and ovarian cancer predisposition. For decades, the co-occurrence in trans with a clearly pathogenic variant led to assume that the other allele was benign. However, here we show a patient with biallelic BRCA2 (c.1813dup and c.7796 A > G) diagnosed at age 33 with FA after a hypertoxic reaction to chemotherapy during breast cancer treatment. After DNA damage, patient cells displayed intermediate chromosome fragility, reduced survival, cell cycle defects, and significantly decreased RAD51 foci formation. With a newly developed cell-based flow cytometric assay, we measured single BRCA2 allele contributions to HRR, and found that expression of the missense allele in a BRCA2 KO cellular background partially recovered HRR activity. Our data suggest that a hypomorphic BRCA2 allele retaining 37–54% of normal HRR function can prevent FA clinical phenotype, but not the early onset of breast cancer and severe hypersensitivity to chemotherapy

Haplotype analysis of the internationally distributed BRCA1 c.3331_3334delCAAG founder mutation reveals a common ancestral origin in Iberia

Càncer de mama; Mutació fundadora; HaplotipCáncer de mama; Mutación fundadora; HaplotipoBreast cancer; Founder mutation; HaplotypeBackground The BRCA1 c.3331_3334delCAAG founder mutation has been reported in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families from multiple Hispanic groups. We aimed to evaluate BRCA1 c.3331_3334delCAAG haplotype diversity in cases of European, African, and Latin American ancestry. Methods BC mutation carrier cases from Colombia (n = 32), Spain (n = 13), Portugal (n = 2), Chile (n = 10), Africa (n = 1), and Brazil (n = 2) were genotyped with the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays to evaluate haplotype diversity around BRCA1 c.3331_3334delCAAG. Additional Portuguese (n = 13) and Brazilian (n = 18) BC mutation carriers were genotyped for 15 informative SNPs surrounding BRCA1. Data were phased using SHAPEIT2, and identical by descent regions were determined using BEAGLE and GERMLINE. DMLE+ was used to date the mutation in Colombia and Iberia. Results The haplotype reconstruction revealed a shared 264.4-kb region among carriers from all six countries. The estimated mutation age was ~ 100 generations in Iberia and that it was introduced to South America early during the European colonization period. Conclusions Our results suggest that this mutation originated in Iberia and later introduced to Colombia and South America at the time of Spanish colonization during the early 1500s. We also found that the Colombian mutation carriers had higher European ancestry, at the BRCA1 gene harboring chromosome 17, than controls, which further supported the European origin of the mutation. Understanding founder mutations in diverse populations has implications in implementing cost-effective, ancestry-informed screening.AMDEA was supported with graduate Fellowships from UC Davis T32 Biotechnology Program. MB, ME, and LGC-C received funding from GSK Oncology and from “Oficina de Desarrollo a la Docencia de la Universidad del Tolima, Convocatoria 2010”. AC and AEF received funding from the Colciencias program “Becas Doctorales Nacionales, Convocatorias 528-2011 and 647-2015”. JB received funding from the Colciencias program “Formación de Capital Humano de Alto Nivel para el Departamento de Tolima- 2016, convocatoria 755”. BRCA1/2 genotyping of the Brazilian patients was performed in part with grants from CNPq (408313/2016-1), FAPERGS and Fundo de Incentivo a Pesquisa (FIPE) do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. AV received funding from CIBERER (grant ER17P1AC7112/2017). PC received funding from FONDEF grant #CA12I10152. CL was Supported by the Carlos III National Health Institute funded by FEDER funds—a way to build Europe—[PI19/00553; PI16/00563; PI16/01898; SAF2015-68016-R and CIBERONC]; the Government of Catalonia [Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS_MedPerCan and URDCat projects), 2017SGR1282 and 2017SGR496]. BR received funding from the National Institutes of Health (R01GM123306). The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the official views of the National Institutes of Health. LGC-C received from the V Foundation for Cancer Research and from The Auburn Community Cancer Endowed Chair in Basic Science

The Spectrum of FANCM Protein Truncating Variants in European Breast Cancer Cases

Predisposició al càncer de mama; Factors de risc de càncer de mama; Espectre de mutacióPredisposición al cáncer de mama; Factores de riesgo de cáncer de mama; Espectro de mutaciónBreast cancer predisposition; Breast cancer risk factors; Mutation spectrumGermline protein truncating variants (PTVs) in the FANCM gene have been associated with a 2–4-fold increased breast cancer risk in case-control studies conducted in different European populations. However, the distribution and the frequency of FANCM PTVs in Europe have never been investigated. In the present study, we collected the data of 114 European female breast cancer cases with FANCM PTVs ascertained in 20 centers from 13 European countries. We identified 27 different FANCM PTVs. The p.Gln1701* PTV is the most common PTV in Northern Europe with a maximum frequency in Finland and a lower relative frequency in Southern Europe. On the contrary, p.Arg1931* seems to be the most common PTV in Southern Europe. We also showed that p.Arg658*, the third most common PTV, is more frequent in Central Europe, and p.Gln498Thrfs*7 is probably a founder variant from Lithuania. Of the 23 rare or unique FANCM PTVs, 15 have not been previously reported. We provide here the initial spectrum of FANCM PTVs in European breast cancer cases.This research was partially funded by Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC; IG2015 no.16732) to P. Peterlongo, a fellowship from Fondazione Umberto Veronesi to G. Figlioli and by the Italian Ministry of Health with Ricerca Corrente and 5x1000 funds. E. Tham is supported by Region Stockholm (ALF). The Czech study was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic NV16-29959A. CNIO study was partially supported by projects PI16/00440 and PI19/00640, supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofunded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Spanish Network on Rare Diseases (CIBERER) and BRIDGES project H2020. Financial support for GENESIS resource and genotyping was provided by the Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer (grants PRE05/DSL, PRE07/DSL, PRE11/NA), the French National Institute of Cancer (INCa grant No b2008-029/LL-LC) and the comprehensive cancer center SiRIC, (Site de Recherche Intégrée sur le Cancer: Grant INCa-DGOS-4654). HEBCS was funded by Helsinki University Hospital Research Fund, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, The cancer Society of Finland. A.Vega is supported by the Spanish Health Research Foundation, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through Research Activity Intensification Program (contract grant numbers: INT15/00070, INT16/00154, INT17/00133), and through Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enferemdades Raras CIBERER (ACCI 2016: ER17P1AC7112/2018); Autonomous Government of Galicia (Consolidation and structuring program: IN607B), and by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña (call 2018). This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1029974 and APP1074383) and by a Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative grant (number VR0182) on its Peak Computing Facility, an initiative of the Victorian Government. T.N-D is a Career Development Fellow of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (Australia, ECF-17-001). M.C.S. is a National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) Senior Research Fellow. The Hungarian Breast and Ovarian Cancer Study was supported by Hungarian Research Grants KTIA-OTKA CK-80745 and NKFI OTKA K-112228 to E. Olah. Lithuanian study was supported by The Research Council of Lithuania grant SEN18/2015 and P-MIP-20-25 to R. Janavicius. The ICO was supported by the Carlos III National Health Institute funded by FEDER funds—a way to build Europe—[PI16/00563, PI19/00553 and CIBERONC]; the Government of Catalonia [Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS) Project MedPerCan, 2017SGR1282 and 2017SGR496]; and CERCA program