Do BARD1 Mutations Confer an Elevated Risk of Prostate Cancer?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Current cancer testing gene panels tend to be comprehensive. One of the genes commonly included in the testing panels is BARD1. To establish whether BARD1 mutations predispose to prostate cancer, we sequenced BARD1 in 390 hereditary prostate cancer cases, genotyped 5715 men with unselected prostate cancer and 10,252 controls for three recurrent rare BARD1 variants in Poland. We did not see an elevated prostate risk cancer given p.Q564X truncating mutation, p.R658C missense mutation and p.R659= synonymous variant. Neither variant influenced prostate cancer characteristics or survival. Our study is the first to evaluate the association between BARD1 mutations and prostate cancer susceptibility. It is not justified to inform men about increased prostate cancer risk in case of identification of a BARD1 mutation. However, a female relative of a man with a BARD1 mutation may benefit from this information and be tested, because BARD1 is a breast cancer susceptibility gene. ABSTRACT: The current cancer testing gene panels tend to be comprehensive rather than site-specific. BARD1 is one of the genes commonly included in the multi-cancer testing panels. Mutations in BARD1 confer an increase in the risk for breast cancer, but it is not studied whether or not they predispose to prostate cancer. To establish if BARD1 mutations also predispose to prostate cancer, we screened BARD1 in 390 Polish patients with hereditary prostate cancer. No truncating mutations were identified by sequencing. We also genotyped 5715 men with unselected prostate cancer, and 10,252 controls for three recurrent BARD1 variants, including p.Q564X, p.R658C and p.R659=. Neither variant conferred elevated risk of prostate cancer (ORs between 0.84 and 1.15, p-values between 0.57 and 0.93) nor did they influence prostate cancer characteristics or survival. We conclude that men with a BARD1 mutation are not at elevated prostate cancer risk. It is not justified to inform men about increased prostate cancer risk in case of identification of a BARD1 mutation. However, a female relative of a man with a BARD1 mutation may benefit from this information and be tested for the mutation, because BARD1 is a breast cancer susceptibility gene.