Approximately 5-10% of all breast and/or ovarian cancer cases are considered as inherited. BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes account for a high penetrance of hereditary cases, but familial cases without mutations in these genes can also occur. Despite their low penetrance, other hereditary cancer-related genes are known to be associated with breast and ovarian cancer risk. However, the extent to which these genes prevail in breast and ovarian cancer remains to be elucidated. To estimate the frequency of mutations in these predisposition genes, we analyzed the germline mutations of 25 hereditary cancer-related genes in 155 patients using targeted next-generation sequencing. These subjects included 11 BRCA1/2 mutation-positive cases and 144 negative cases. Of these, three patients (1.9%) had pathogenic mutations in ATM, MRE11A, or MSH6, all of which have a central role in DNA repair and the mismatch repair pathway. The MSH6 splice-site mutation (IVS6+1G>T) was predicted to be pathogenic, as demonstrated by in vitro and immunohistochemical analyses. These results suggested deficiencies in cellular DNA repair functions result in the development of breast and ovarian cancer.
Keywords: Breast and ovarian cancer; DNA repair; gene panel; next-generation sequencing.