title: Characterization ofBRCA1/2mutations in patients with family history of breast cancer in Armenia.
abstract: Background.Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. The germline mutations of theBRCA1andBRCA2genes are the most significant and well characterized genetic risk factors for hereditary breast cancer. Intensive research in the last decades has demonstrated that the incidence of mutations varies widely among different populations. In this study we attempted to perform a pilot study for identification and characterization of mutations inBRCA1andBRCA2genes among Armenian patients with family history of breast cancer and their healthy relatives.Methods.We performed targeted exome sequencing forBRCA1andBRCA2genes in 6 patients and their healthy relatives. After alignment of short reads to the reference genome, germline single nucleotide variation and indel discovery was performed using GATK software. Functional implications of identified variants were assessed using ENSEMBL Variant Effect Predictor tool.Results.In total, 39 single nucleotide variations and 4 indels were identified, from which 15 SNPs and 3 indels were novel. No known pathogenic mutations were identified, but 2 SNPs causing missense amino acid mutations had significantly increased frequencies in the study group compared to the 1000 Genome populations.Conclusions.Our results demonstrate the importance of screening ofBRCA1andBRCA2gene variants in the Armenian population in order to identity specifics of mutation spectrum and frequencies and enable accurate risk assessment of hereditary breast cancers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Sofi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atshemyan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Andranik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chavushyan
authors.affiliation: ARTMED Medical Rehabilitation Center (CJSC), Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Nerses
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berberian
authors.affiliation: ARTMED Medical Rehabilitation Center (CJSC), Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahakyan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Roksana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zakharyan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Arsen
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6851-1056
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arakelyan
keywords: BRCA1; BRCA2; breast cancer; mutation screening; targeted exome sequencing