Ricerc@Sapienza

Breast cancer (BC) in men is rare and genetic predisposition is likely to play a relevant role in its etiology. Inherited mutations in BRCA1/2 account for about 13% of all cases and additional genes that may contribute to the missing heritability need to be investigated. In our study, a well-characterized series of 523 male BC (MBC) patients from the Italian multicenter study on MBC, enriched for non-BRCA1/2 MBC cases, was screened by a multigene custom panel of 50 cancer-associated genes.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer (BC) in men is a rare disease, whose etiology appears to be associated with genetic factors. Inherited mutations in BRCA1/2 genes account for about 10-15% of all cases. FANCM, functionally linked to BRCA1/2, has been suggested as a novel BC susceptibility gene. Our aim was to test if FANCM germline mutations could further explain male BC (MBC) susceptibility.

Inherited mutations in BRCA1, and, mainly, BRCA2 genes are associated with increased risk of male breast cancer (MBC). Mutations in PALB2 and CHEK2 genes may also increase MBC risk. Overall, these genes are functionally linked to DNA repair pathways, highlighting the central role of genome maintenance in MBC genetic predisposition. MUTYH is a DNA repair gene whose biallelic germline variants cause MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) syndrome.