Brief Communication abstract


Nature Genetics 39, 165 - 167 (2006) Published online: 31 December 2006 |
doi:10.1038/ng1959

PALB2, which encodes a BRCA2-interacting protein, is a breast cancer susceptibility gene

Nazneen Rahman1, Sheila Seal1, Deborah Thompson2, Patrick Kelly1, Anthony Renwick1, Anna Elliott1, Sarah Reid1, Katarina Spanova1, Rita Barfoot1, Tasnim Chagtai1, Hiran Jayatilake1, Lesley McGuffog2, Sandra Hanks1, D Gareth Evans3, Diana Eccles4, The Breast Cancer Susceptibility Collaboration (UK), Douglas F Easton2 & Michael R Stratton1,5

Top

PALB2 interacts with BRCA2, and biallelic mutations in PALB2 (also known as FANCN), similar to biallelic BRCA2 mutations, cause Fanconi anemia. We identified monoallelic truncating PALB2 mutations in 10/923 individuals with familial breast cancer compared with 0/1,084 controls (P = 0.0004) and show that such mutations confer a 2.3-fold higher risk of breast cancer (95% confidence interval (c.i.) = 1.4–3.9, P = 0.0025). The results show that PALB2 is a breast cancer susceptibility gene and further demonstrate the close relationship of the Fanconi anemia–DNA repair pathway and breast cancer predisposition.

Top
  1. Section of Cancer Genetics, Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG, UK.
  2. Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit, Strangeways Research Laboratories, University of Cambridge, UK.
  3. Department of Medical Genetics, St. Mary's Hospital, Manchester M13 0JH, UK.
  4. Wessex Clinical Genetics Service, Princess Anne Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YA, UK.
  5. Cancer Genome Project, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambs CB10 1SA, UK.

Correspondence to: Nazneen Rahman1 e-mail: nazneen.rahman@icr.ac.uk

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.


Extra navigation

Subscribe to Nature Genetics

Subscribe

naturejobs

ADVERTISEMENT