Case Series: Five Individuals Diagnosed With Breast and Gastrointestinal Cancers: Are They “Related”?

Patients at high risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) driven by BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations have some distinct clinical characteristics, including young age at onset, triple-negative breast cancer phenotype, bilateral primary breast cancers, breast and ovarian/fallopian tube/primary peritoneal cancers, male breast cancer, and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.1 Among the other high-risk breast cancer syndromes, however, including Li-Fraumeni (via p53 mutation) and Cowden (via PTEN mutation) syndromes, none include an increased risk of cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract; colorectal cancers may be slightly increased in the latter, while BRCA2 mutation carriers may have an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Source: Seminars in Oncology - December 9, 2014 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: D. McFarland, Susan Miller-Samuel, Hank Schmidt, Gloria J. Morris Tags: Current Clinical Practice Source Type: research