The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Åke Borg

Åke Borg

Principal investigator

Åke Borg

Detection of Germline BRCA1 Mutations in Breast Cancer Patients by Quantitative Messenger RNA in situ Hybridization

Author

  • Tommi Kainu
  • Juha Kononen
  • Oskar Johansson
  • Håkan Olsson
  • Åke Borg
  • Jorma Isola

Summary, in English

Mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) may account for one half of all familial breast cancers. Because of the wide spectrum of different germline mutations, identification of BRCA1 mutation carriers using current techniques is laborious and difficult. The majority of the identified mutations, however, lead to aberrant expression of the gene product in tumor tissue, potentially allowing the detection of BRCA1-linked breast cancers using simple histochemical techniques. We performed quantitative mRNA in situ hybridization analysis on archival paraffin-embedded tumor specimens from 25 patients with characterized germline BRCA1 mutations or linkage and from 29 patients with sporadic breast cancers. BRCA1 mRNA levels were invariably low in tumors from BRCA1 mutation carriers. Normal breast epithelium surrounding the BRCA1 tumors showed higher mRNA levels than the tumor tissue, indicating that the low mRNA levels were due to somatic inactivation of the wild-type BRCA1 allele in the tumor tissue. The expression levels in the sporadic tumors were, on average, six times higher than in the BRCA1 tumors (P < 0.0001). The difference allowed identification of BRCA1-mutated and sporadic tumors with more than 95% specificity and sensitivity. We conclude that the analysis of BRCA1 gene expression by mRNA in situ hybridization may be useful in screening for patients with BRCA1-linked breast cancer.

Department/s

  • Breastcancer-genetics

Publishing year

1996

Language

English

Pages

2912-2915

Publication/Series

Cancer Research

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Association for Cancer Research Inc.

Topic

  • Cancer and Oncology

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1538-7445