Broca Gene Panel Testing In African Descendants From Northeastern Brazil: Genetic Susceptibility Profile Of An Admixed Population

1572Background: The rising global burden of breast cancer (BC) in developing countries demands innovative interventions to accelerate progress in cancer control and prevention. Given the high rates of aggressive young onset breast cancer in Brazil, we sought to examine genetic susceptibility to the disease in the State of Bahia in the Northeast of Brazil, which has the largest population of African descendants. Methods: We screened cases, high-risk breast cancer patients with and without family history of breast cancer, and controls (cancer-free women) for twenty-eight breast cancer susceptibility genes using a validated targeted capture and multiplex sequencing approach – the BROCA panel. Each participant gave informed consent under IRB approved protocols and provided clinical-pathological and epidemiological data. Results: A total of 292 consecutive and unrelated individuals (173 cases and 119 controls) were included. Nearly 2/3rds of the cases (116/173) and about 90% of the controls (108/119) self-repo...