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Prevalence and characteristics of pancreatic cancer in families with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations

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Abstract

A growing body of research describes cancers other than breast and ovarian in families with BRCA1/2 mutations, but the prevalence and characteristics of pancreatic cancer in these families has not been well described. This study was designed to: (1) estimate the prevalence of pancreatic cancer in BRCA1/2 positive families; (2) ascertain age of onset and gender distribution of pancreatic cancer in this cohort; and (3) compare age and gender characteristics of pancreatic cancer in BRCA1/2 positive families with those of the general population. Within the UCSF Cancer Risk Program cohort, 24/219 (11.0%) BRCA1 and 17/156 (10.9%) BRCA2 families had at least 1 individual with pancreatic cancer. In the 24 BRCA1 families, median age of diagnosis was 59 (range 45–80) in males, and 68 (range 38–87) in females (male:female ratio = 2.00). In the 17 BRCA2 families, median age of diagnosis was 67 (range 39–78) in males and 59 (range 46–81) in females (male:female ratio = 1.11). The SEER database, which describes cancer characteristics in a representative sample of the US population, reports a median age of 70 in males and 74 in females (male:female ratio = 0.96) over the same time period. Additionally, mean ages of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in BRCA1/2 families differ significantly from the SEER mean (P = 0.0014 for BRCA1 and P = 0.011 for BRCA2 by unpaired t-test). Our findings suggest that families with early onset pancreatic cancer and features of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer should be considered for BRCA1/2 testing.

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Abbreviations

SEER:

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results

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Acknowledgments

This publication was supported by NIH/NCRR/OD UCSF-CTSI Grant Number KL2 RR024130. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA

    Daniel H. Kim

  2. Cancer Risk Program, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, 1635 Divisadero Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA, 94115, USA

    Beth Crawford, John Ziegler & Mary S. Beattie

  3. Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA

    John Ziegler & Mary S. Beattie

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of California, San Francisco, USA

    Mary S. Beattie

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  1. Daniel H. Kim
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  2. Beth Crawford
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  3. John Ziegler
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  4. Mary S. Beattie
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Correspondence to Mary S. Beattie.

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Kim, D.H., Crawford, B., Ziegler, J. et al. Prevalence and characteristics of pancreatic cancer in families with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Familial Cancer 8, 153–158 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-008-9220-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-008-9220-x

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