ATM heterozygosity and breast cancer: screening of 37 breast cancer patients for ATM mutations using a non-isotopic RNase cleavage-based

Based upon the results of several epidemiologic studies, it has been sugges ted that women who are carriers for a mutation in the ataxia telangiectasia -mutated (ATM) gene are susceptible for the development of breast cancer. T herefore, 37 consecutive breast cancer patients were screened for the prese nce of a germline ATM mutation using a non-isotopic RNase cleavage-based as say (NIRCA). This paper reports the first use of NIRCA for detection of ATM mutations in breast cancer patients. Using this assay, no ATM mutations we re found in our patient population. This result is similar to the findings of other studies that have employed approaches complementary to NIRCA.