Screening for Mutations in Breast Cancer patients

AU-KBC RESEARCH CENTRE

Screening for mutations in Breast Cancer patients

Breast Cancer (BC) is the major cause of cancer death in women worldwide. BC results from genetic and environmental factors leading to the accumulation of mutations in essential genes. It occurs in hereditary and sporadic forms. Susceptibility to BC is due to a small number of highly penetrant mutations (such as in BRCA1 and BRCA2) and a much larger number of low-penetrance variants. A resource collection on breast cancer from various sources on the net has been created.

The mutation spectrum and mutation frequency for BC in Western populations is well documented. The present project aims at screening for mutations in BC patients from Chennai based hospitals. Mutation detection, based on PCR-SSCP methods would be employed to determine the mutation spectrum in hereditary as well as sporadic breast cancer cases in the local population.

This population based molecular study of breast cancer will provide insight into the prevalence of mutations and their contributions to cancer incidence.

S. Bagavathi , P. Gajalakshmi