title: The BARD1 Cys557Ser variant and risk of familial breast cancer in a South-American population.
abstract: Since the discovery of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, much work has been carried out to identify further breast cancer (BC) susceptibility genes. BARD1 (BRCA1-associated ring domain) was originally identified as a BRCA1-interacting protein but has also been described in tumor-suppressive functions independent of BRCA1. Some association studies have suggested that the BARD1 Cys557Ser variant might be associated with increased risk of BC, but others have failed to confirm this finding. To date, this variant has not been analyzed in Spanish or South-American populations. In this study, using a case-control design, we analyzed the C-terminal Cys557Ser change in 322 Chilean BC cases with no mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 and in 570 controls in order to evaluate its possible association with BC susceptibility. BARD1 Cys557Ser was associated with an increased BC risk (P = 0.04, OR = 3.4 [95 % CI 1.2-10.2]) among cases belonging to families with a strong family history of BC. No difference between single cases affected with age <50 years at diagnosis (n = 117) and controls was observed for carriers of Cys/Ser genotype. It is likely that this variant is not involved in BC risk in this group of women. We also analyzed a possible interaction between BARD1 557Ser/XRCC3 241Met variants considering the role of both genes in the maintenance of genome integrity. The combined genotype Cys/Ser-carrier with the XRCC3 241Met allele was associated with an increased BC risk (P = 0.02, OR = 5.01 [95 % CI 1.36-18.5]) among women belonging to families with at least three BC and/or ovarian cancer cases. Our results suggest that BARD1 557Ser and XRCC3 241Met may play roles in BC risk in women with a strong family history of BC. Nevertheless there is no evidence of an interaction between the two SNPs. These findings should be confirmed by other studies and in other populations.
authors.affiliation: Human Genetics Program, Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBM), School of Medicine, University of Chile, Av. Independencia 1027, P. O. Box 70061 Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Patricio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Hormazabal
authors.forename: Jose M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bravo
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carrera
authors.forename: Octavio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Peralta
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Waugh
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Margarit
authors.forename: Gladys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ibañez
authors.forename: Jose L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002677:Chile; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; C110901:X-ray repair cross complementing protein 3; C102449:BARD1 protein, human; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases