High prevalence and predominance of BRCA1 germline mutations in Pakistani triple-negative breast cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Women harboring BRCA1/2 germline mutations have high lifetime risk of developing breast/ovarian cancer. The recommendation to pursue BRCA1/2 testing is based on patient’s family history of breast/ovarian cancer, age of disease-onset and/or pathologic parameters of breast tumors. Here, we investigated if diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) independently increases risk of carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation in Pakistan. METHODS: Five hundred and twenty-three breast cancer patients including 237 diagnosed ≤ 30 years of age and 286 with a family history of breast/ovarian cancer were screened for BRCA1/2 small-range mutations and large genomic rearrangements. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed at one center. Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate possible differences in prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutations according to patient and tumor characteristics. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent of patients presented with TNBC. The prevalence of BRCA1 mutations was higher in patients with TNBC than non-TNBC (37 % vs. 10 %, P < 0.0001). 1 % of TNBC patients were observed to have BRCA2 mutations. Subgroup analyses revealed a larger proportion of BRCA1 mutations in TNBC than non-TNBC among patients 1) diagnosed at early-age with no family history of breast/ovarian cancer (14 % vs. 5 %, P = 0.03), 2) diagnosed at early-age irrespective of family history (28 % vs. 11 %, P = 0.0003), 3) had a family history of breast cancer (49 % vs. 12 %, P < 0.0001), and 4) those with family history of breast and ovarian cancer (81 % vs. 28 %, P = 0.0005). TNBC patients harboring BRCA1 mutations were diagnosed at a later age than non-carriers (median age at diagnosis: 30 years (range 22–53) vs. 28 years (range 18–67), P = 0.002). The association between TNBC status and presence of BRCA1 mutations was independent of the simultaneous consideration of family phenotype, tumor histology and grade in a multiple logistic regression model (Ratio of the probability of carrying BRCA1/2 mutations for TNBC vs. non-TNBC 4.23; 95 % CI 2.50–7.14; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Genetic BRCA1 testing should be considered for Pakistani women diagnosed with TNBC. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2698-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.