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
. 2023 Apr 1;13(4):930.
doi: 10.3390/life13040930.

Impact of Breast Cancer and Germline BRCA Pathogenic Variants on Fertility Preservation in Young Women

Elze Prokurotaite  1 , Margherita Condorelli  1   2 , Julie Dechene  2 , Jason Bouziotis  3 , Matteo Lambertini  4   5 , Isabelle Demeestere  1   2
Affiliations

Impact of Breast Cancer and Germline BRCA Pathogenic Variants on Fertility Preservation in Young Women

Elze Prokurotaite et al. Life (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Several studies have suggested that breast cancer (BC) and germline BRCA pathogenic variants (gBRCA PVs) could have a deleterious impact on ovarian reserve. Nevertheless, data are limited and mixed. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of fertility preservation (FP) in terms of the number of collected mature oocytes after ovarian stimulation (OS) in young women carrying a gBRCA PV, associated or not with BC.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective monocentric study at HUB-Hôpital Erasme in Brussels. All women aged between 18 and 41 years diagnosed with invasive non-metastatic BC and/or gBRCA PV carriers who underwent OS for FP or preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorder (PGT-M) between November 2012 and October 2021 were included. Three groups were compared: BC patients without a gBRCA PV, BC patients with a gBRCA PV, and healthy gBRCA PV carriers. Ovarian reserve was evaluated based on the efficacy of OS and AMH levels.

Results: A total of 85 patients underwent 100 cycles. The mean age (32.2 ± 3.9 years; p = 0.61) and median AMH level (1.9 [0.2-13] μg/L; p = 0.22) were similar between groups. Correlations between the number of mature oocytes and AMH level (p < 0.001) and between AMH and age (p < 0.001) were observed. No differences in the number of retrieved mature oocytes were observed between groups (p = 0.41), or for other OS parameters.

Conclusion: Neither BC nor a gBRCA PV significantly affects ovarian reserve and FP efficacy in terms of the number of mature oocytes retrieved.

Keywords: BRCA mutation; breast cancer; fertility preservation; germline BRCA pathogenic variants; oocyte cryopreservation; ovarian reserve; pregnancy and follow-up; preimplantation genetic diagnosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart for the study. Abbreviations: AMH: anti-Müllerian hormone; BC: breast cancer; gBRCA PV: germline BRCA pathogenic variant; FP: fertility preservation; PGT-M: preimplantation genetic testing for monogenic disorder.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The distribution of the number of mature oocytes in the three study groups. No differences in mature oocyte retrieval were observed between the three groups (mixed-effects linear regression, p = 0.41). Abbreviations: BC: breast cancer; gBRCA PV: germline BRCA pathogenic variant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Paluch-Shimon S., Pagani O., Partridge A.H., Abulkhair O., Cardoso M.-J., Dent R.A., Gelmon K., Gentilini O., Harbeck N., Margulies A., et al. ESO-ESMO 3rd international consensus guidelines for breast cancer in young women (BCY3) Breast. 2017;35:203–217. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2017.07.017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Suleiman G., Ghina G., Dalia K., Azim H.A., Jr. Fertility preservation in patients with BRCA mutation. Ecancermedicalscience. 2020;14:1033. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2020.1033. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hasson S.P., Menes T., Sonnenblick A. Comparison of Patient Susceptibility Genes Across Breast Cancer: Implications for Prognosis and Therapeutic Outcomes. Pharm. Pers. Med. 2020;13:227–238. doi: 10.2147/PGPM.S233485. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gunnala V., Fields J., Irani M., D’Angelo D., Xu K., Schattman G., Rosenwaks Z. BRCA carriers have similar reproductive potential at baseline to noncarriers: Comparisons in cancer and cancer-free cohorts undergoing fertility preservation. Fertil. Steril. 2019;111:363–371. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2018.10.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Azim H.A., Partridge A.H. Biology of breast cancer in young women. Breast Cancer Res. 2014;16:427. doi: 10.1186/s13058-014-0427-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed