Analysis of BRCA1 involvement in breast cancer in Indian women

The involvement of the familial breast-ovarian cancer gene (BRCA1) in the m olecular pathogenesis of breast cancer among Indian women is unknown. We ha ve used a set of microsatellite polymorphisms to examine the frequency of a llele loss at the BRCA1 region on chromosome 17q21, in a panel of 80 human breast tumours. Tumour and blood leukocyte/normal tissue DNA from a series of 80 patients with primary breast cancer was screened by PCR-amplified mic rosatellite length polymorphisms to detect deletions at three polymorphic B RCA1 loci. PCR-allelotype was valuable in examining allele losses from arch ival and small tumour samples. Loss of alleles at BRCA1 in the patient set, confirmed a noteworthy role of this gene in the molecular pathogenesis of breast cancer and was in accordance with its well-documented tumour suppres sive function.