AUTHOR=Paixão Daniele , Torrezan Giovana Tardin , Santiago Karina Miranda , Formiga Maria Nirvana , Ahuno Samuel Terkper , Dias-Neto Emmanuel , Tojal da Silva Israel , Foulkes William D. , Polak Paz , Carraro Dirce Maria 

TITLE=Characterization of genetic predisposition to molecular subtypes of breast cancer in Brazilian patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.976959

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2022.976959

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p><italic>BRCA1</italic> and <italic>BRCA2</italic> germline pathogenic variants (GPVs) account for most of the 5-10% of breast cancer (BC) that is attributable to inherited genetic variants. <italic>BRCA1</italic> GPVs are associated with the triple negative subtype, whereas <italic>BRCA2</italic> GPVs are likely to result in higher grade, estrogen-receptor positive BCs. The contribution of other genes of high and moderate risk for BC has not been well defined and risk estimates to specific BC subtypes is lacking, especially for an admixed population like Brazilian.</p></sec><sec><title>Objective</title><p>The aim of this study is to evaluate the value of a multigene panel in detecting germline mutations in cancer-predisposing genes for Brazilian BC patients and its relation with molecular subtypes and the predominant molecular ancestry.</p></sec><sec><title>Patients and methods</title><p>A total of 321 unrelated BC patients who fulfilled NCCN criteria for <italic>BRCA1/2</italic> testing between 2016-2018 were investigated with a 94-genes panel. Molecular subtypes were retrieved from medical records and ancestry-specific variants were obtained from off-target reads obtained from the sequencing data.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>We detected 83 GPVs in 81 patients (positivity rate of 25.2%). Among GPVs, 47% (39/83) were identified in high-risk BC genes (<italic>BRCA1/2, PALB2</italic> and <italic>TP53</italic>) and 18% (15/83) in moderate-penetrance genes (<italic>ATM, CHEK2</italic> and <italic>RAD51C</italic>). The remainder of the GPVs (35% - 29/83), were identified in lower-risk genes. As for the molecular subtypes, triple negative BC had a mutation frequency of 31.6% (25/79), with predominance in <italic>BRCA1</italic> (12.6%; 10/79). Among the luminal subtypes, except Luminal B HER2-positive, 18.7% (29/155) had GPV with <italic>BRCA1/2</italic> genes contributing 7.1% (11/155) and non-<italic>BRCA1/2</italic> genes, 12.9% (20/155). For Luminal B HER2-positive subtype, 40% (16/40) had GPVs, with a predominance of <italic>ATM</italic> gene (15% - 6/40) and <italic>BRCA2</italic> with only 2.5% (1/40). Finally, HER2-enriched subtype presented a mutation rate of 30.8% (4/13) with contribution of <italic>BRCA2</italic> of 7.5% (1/13) and non-<italic>BRCA1/2</italic> of 23% (3/13). Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) were identified in 77.6% (249/321) of the patients and the number of VUS was increased in patients with Asian and Native American ancestry.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The multigene panel contributed to identify GPVs in genes other than <italic>BRCA1</italic>/<italic>2</italic>, increasing the positivity of the genetic test from 9.6% (<italic>BRCA1/2</italic>) to 25.2% and, considering only the most clinically relevant BC predisposing genes, to 16.2%. These results indicate that women with clinical criteria for hereditary BC may benefit from a multigene panel testing, as it allows identifying GPVs in genes that directly impact the clinical management of these patients and family members.</p></sec>