The role of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene in the pathogenesis of breast cancer

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Research in the Molecular Pathogenesis is focused on defining changes in the genes that underlie inherited susceptibilities to common diseases such as cancer and birth defects. Currently under investigation are the inherited breast and ovarian cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The biological function of these proteins is currently unknown. Previously, we discovered which proteins specifically interact with BRCA1. We also have found that BRCA1 is important for controlling the expression of other genes and is plays a role in DNA repair. Recent experiments has revealed that BRCA1 appears to help in the process of recognizing and eliminating cells that may progress to form tumors. We now know that the increase in breast, ovarian and prostate cancer risk associated with genetic variants in these genes is due to a failure of these mutated proteins to function in the DNA repair pathway. We used yeast cells as an experimental model to test the functional consequences of mutations found in humans. We have also developed a system for identifying proteins that interact with BRCA1. In the past we applied a bioinformatics approach to probe the role that genomic structure may play in protein evolution. The study of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes has led us to discover a new connection between a specific type of gene structure and evolutionary rates of changes. This observation appears to be generalizable to almost any gene and holds true across all metazoan lineages. We recently completed the study of all the exons in each of six genomes. The rules we observed for our smaller sample have been confirmed in this larger set. This section created and maintains a database of mutations in the breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, this scientific resource is used by investigators through out the word. In the past year we have added information to the database that will allow users to assess the clinical and functional significance of mutations.