BRCA2 linked to male-only breast cancer
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A team of Icelandic molecular biologists has discovered a family with male breast cancer linked to the BRCA2 gene but very few cases of female breast cancer. The group from the University of Reykjavik says that three brothers and a male cousin with breast cancer share the same BRCA2 haplotype. Only three female relatives were affected in an expanded pedigree of 252 men and 229 women and they did not show the characteristic early onset usually associated with BRCA2 families. Four of the patients are first degree relatives: three brothers and their sister.