Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Dec 4;107(12):2005-9.
doi: 10.1038/bjc.2012.483. Epub 2012 Oct 25.

The incidence of pancreatic cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

J Iqbal  1 , A Ragone, J Lubinski, H T Lynch, P Moller, P Ghadirian, W D Foulkes, S Armel, A Eisen, S L Neuhausen, L Senter, C F Singer, P Ainsworth, C Kim-Sing, N Tung, E Friedman, M Llacuachaqui, S Ping, S A Narod; Hereditary Breast Cancer Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

The incidence of pancreatic cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

J Iqbal et al. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 predispose to pancreatic cancer. We estimated the incidence of pancreatic cancer in a cohort of female carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation. We also estimated survival rates in pancreatic cancer cases from families with a BRCA mutation.

Methods: We followed 5149 women with a mutation for new cases of pancreatic cancer. The standardised incidence ratios (SIR) for pancreatic cancer were calculated based on age group and country of residence. We also reviewed the pedigrees of 8140 pedigrees with a BRCA1 or a BRCA2 mutation for those with a case of pancreatic cancer. We recorded the year of diagnosis and the year of death for 351 identified cases.

Results: Eight incident pancreatic cancer cases were identified among all mutation carriers. The SIR for BRCA1 carriers was 2.55 (95% CI=1.03-5.31, P=0.04) and for BRCA2 carriers was 2.13 (95% CI=0.36-7.03, P=0.3). The 5-year survival rate was 5% for cases from a BRCA1 family and 4% for cases from a BRCA2 family.

Conclusion: The risk of pancreatic cancer is approximately doubled in female BRCA carriers. The poor survival in familial pancreatic cancer underscores the need for novel anti-tumoural strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Survival after pancreas cancer by BRCA mutation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bartsch DK, Kress R, Sina-Frey M, Grutzmann R, Gerdes B, Pilarsky C et al (2004) Prevalence of familial pancreatic cancer in Germany. Int J Cancer 110: 902–906 - PubMed
    1. Caldas C, Hahn SA, da Costa LT, Redston MS, Schutte M, Seymour AB, Weinstein CL, Hruban RH, Yeo CJ, Kern SE (1994) Frequent somatic mutations and homozygous deletions of the p16 (MTS1) gene in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Nat Genet 8: 27–32 - PubMed
    1. Canadian Cancer Society (2010) Canadian Cancer Statistics. Canadian Cancer Society: Toronto
    1. Ghiorzo P, Fornarini G, Sciallero S, Battistuzzi L, Belli F, Bernard L, Bonelli L, Borgonovo G, Bruno W, De Cian F, Decensi A, Filauro M, Faravelli F, Gozza A, Gargiulo S, Mariette F, Nasti S, Pastorino L, Queirolo P, Savarino V, Varesco L, Scarrà GB Genoa Pancreatic Cancer Study Group (2012) CDKN2A is the main susceptibility gene in Italian pancreatic cancer families. J Med Genet 49: 164–170 - PubMed
    1. Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin DM (2010) GLOBOCAN 2008 v1.2 cancer incidence and mortality worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 10 (Internet). Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer; available from http://globocan.iarc.fr

Publication types