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Title: Rare key functional domain missense substitutions in MRE11A, RAD50, and NBNcontribute to breast cancer susceptibility: results from a Breast Cancer Family Registry case-control mutation-screening study

Journal Article · · Breast Cancer Research
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr3669· OSTI ID:1626700
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [3];  [10];  [3]
  1. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon (France); Cancer Research Center of Lyon (France)
  2. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon (France)
  3. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
  4. University of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  6. University of Melbourne (Australia); Seoul National University (Korea, Republic of)
  7. University of Melbourne (Australia)
  8. University of Toronto, ON (Canada)
  9. Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA (United States); Stanford University, CA (United States)
  10. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon (France); Institute Curie, Paris (France)

The MRE11A-RAD50-Nibrin (MRN) complex plays several critical roles related to repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Inherited mutations in the three components predispose to genetic instability disorders and the MRN genes have been implicated in breast cancer susceptibility, but the underlying data are not entirely convincing. Here, we address two related questions: (1) are some rare MRN variants intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility alleles, and if so (2) do the MRN genes follow a BRCA1/BRCA2 pattern wherein most susceptibility alleles are protein-truncating variants, or do they follow an ATM/CHEK2 pattern wherein half or more of the susceptibility alleles are missense substitutions? Using high-resolution melt curve analysis followed by Sanger sequencing, we mutation screened the coding exons and proximal splice junction regions of the MRN genes in 1,313 early-onset breast cancer cases and 1,123 population controls. Rare variants in the three genes were pooled using bioinformatics methods similar to those previously applied to ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, and CHEK2, and then assessed by logistic regression. Results: Re-analysis of our ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2 mutation screening data revealed that these genes do not harbor pathogenic alleles (other than modest-risk SNPs) with minor allele frequencies >0.1% in Caucasian Americans, African Americans, or East Asians. Limiting our MRN analyses to variants with allele frequencies of <0.1% and combining protein-truncating variants, likely spliceogenic variants, and key functional domain rare missense substitutions, we found significant evidence that the MRN genes are indeed intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility genes (odds ratio (OR) = 2.88, P = 0.0090). Key domain missense substitutions were more frequent than the truncating variants (24 versus 12 observations) and conferred a slightly higher OR (3.07 versus 2.61) with a lower P value (0.029 versus 0.14). These data establish that MRE11A, RAD50, and NBN are intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility genes. Like ATM and CHEK2, their spectrum of pathogenic variants includes a relatively high proportion of missense substitutions. However, the data neither establish whether variants in each of the three genes are best evaluated under the same analysis model nor achieve clinically actionable classification of individual variants observed in this study.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Cancer Institute (NCI); Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; R01 CA121245; UM1CA164920; P30 CA042014
OSTI ID:
1626700
Journal Information:
Breast Cancer Research, Vol. 16, Issue 3; ISSN 1465-542X
Publisher:
BioMed CentralCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Attenuating the DNA damage response to double strand breaks restores function in models of CNS neurodegeneration posted_content June 2019
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Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer: new genes in confined pathways journal August 2016
No evidence that protein truncating variants in BRIP1 are associated with breast cancer risk: implications for gene panel testing journal February 2016
MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 complex alterations and DNA damage response: implications for cancer treatment journal November 2019
Germline breast cancer susceptibility gene mutations and breast cancer outcomes journal March 2018
Multigene testing of moderate-risk genes: be mindful of the missense journal January 2016
Missense variant pathogenicity predictors generalize well across a range of function‐specific prediction challenges journal May 2017
No evidence that protein truncating variants in BRIP1 are associated with breast cancer risk: implications for gene panel testing text January 2016
Attenuating the DNA damage response to double-strand breaks restores function in models of CNS neurodegeneration journal January 2019
Challenges in reporting pathogenic/potentially pathogenic variants in 94 cancer predisposing genes - in pediatric patients screened with NGS panels journal January 2020
Chromosome instability syndromes journal September 2001
ABRAXAS (FAM175A) and Breast Cancer Susceptibility: No Evidence of Association in the Breast Cancer Family Registry journal June 2016
Chromosome Instability Syndromes book January 1993
Prenatal genetic counselors' practices and confidence level when counseling on cancer risk identified on expanded carrier screening journal March 2019
Inherited Cancer in the Age of Next-Generation Sequencing journal January 2018
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Outcomes of retesting BRCA negative patients using multigene panels journal November 2016
Chromosome instability syndromes journal September 2019
Exome Sequencing in a Family with Luminal-Type Breast Cancer Underpinned by Variation in the Methylation Pathway journal February 2017
Chromosome Instability Syndromes book November 2011
Genetic risk assessment and prevention: the role of genetic testing panels in breast cancer journal October 2015
Identifying breast cancer susceptibility genes – a review of the genetic background in familial breast cancer journal January 2019
Development and validation of a 36-gene sequencing assay for hereditary cancer risk assessment posted_content December 2016
Functional Interaction Between BRCA1 and DNA Repair in Yeast May Uncover a Role of RAD50, RAD51, MRE11A, and MSH6 Somatic Variants in Cancer Development journal September 2018
Genetic Predisposition to Breast and Ovarian Cancers: How Many and Which Genes to Test? journal February 2020