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BRCA2 and predisposition to pancreatic and other cancers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2004

Meghan A. Arnold  and
Michael Goggins
Meghan A. Arnold
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University, 600 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Michael Goggins
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology, Medicine and Oncology, 632 Ross Building, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
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Abstract

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is a major cause of cancer deaths in the industrialised world. Recent work has focused on the genetics of pancreatic cancer with a goal of finding an early detection marker that might allow for greater rates of survival than are currently possible. The breast cancer 2 gene (BRCA2) is one of numerous genes implicated in familial pancreatic cancer. Carriers of germline mutations of the BRCA2 gene have an increased risk of several cancers, among them pancreatic adenocarcinoma. During pancreatic carcinogenesis, bi-allelic inactivation of BRCA2 occurs as a late event, suggesting that other genetic events must occur before neoplastic cells can tolerate loss of BRCA2.

Keywords

BRCA2pancreatic cancerbreast cancerovarian cancerneoplastic progression modelRad51
Type
Review Article
Information
Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine , Volume 3 , Issue 14 , 14 May 2001 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2001

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