A characterization of genetic variants in BRCA1 intron 8 identifies a mutation and a polymorphism

Adding In Silico Assessment of Potential Splice Aberration to the Integrated Evaluation of BRCA Gene Unclassified Variants

Clinical mutation screening of the cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 generates many unclassified variants (UVs). Most of these UVs are either rare missense substitutions or nucleotide substitutions near the splice junctions of the protein coding exons. Previously, we developed a quantitative method for evaluation of BRCA gene UVs—the “integrated evaluation”—that combines a sequence analysis‐based prior probability of pathogenicity with patient and/or tumor observational data to arrive at a posterior probability of pathogenicity. One limitation of the sequence analysis‐based prior has been that it evaluates UVs from the perspective of missense substitution severity but not probability to disrupt normal mRNA splicing. Here, we calibrated output from the splice‐site fitness program MaxEntScan to generate spliceogenicity‐based prior probabilities of pathogenicity for BRCA gene variants; these range from 0.97 for variants with high probability to damage a donor or acceptor to 0.02 for exonic variants that do not impact a splice junction and are unlikely to create a de novo donor. We created a database http://priors.hci.utah.edu/PRIORS/ that provides the combined missense substitution severity and spliceogenicity‐based probability of pathogenicity for BRCA gene single‐nucleotide substitutions. We also updated the BRCA gene Ex‐UV LOVD, available at http://hci‐exlovd.hci.utah.edu, with 77 re‐evaluable variants.

Genetic, functional, and histopathological evaluation of two C-terminal BRCA1 missense variants

BACKGROUND

The vast majority of BRCA1 missense sequence variants remain uncharacterized for their possible effect on protein expression and function, and therefore are unclassified in terms of their pathogenicity. BRCA1 plays diverse cellular roles and it is unlikely that any single functional assay will accurately reflect the total cellular implications of missense mutations in this gene.

OBJECTIVE

To elucidate the effect of two BRCA1 variants, 5236G>C (G1706A) and 5242C>A (A1708E) on BRCA1 function, and to survey the relative usefulness of several assays to direct the characterisation of other unclassified variants in BRCA genes.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Data from a range of bioinformatic, genetic, and histopathological analyses, and in vitro functional assays indicated that the 1708E variant was associated with the disruption of different cellular functions of BRCA1. In transient transfection experiments in T47D and 293T cells, the 1708E product was mislocalised to the cytoplasm and induced centrosome amplification in 293T cells. The 1708E variant also failed to transactivate transcription of reporter constructs in mammalian transcriptional transactivation assays. In contrast, the 1706A variant displayed a phenotype comparable to wildtype BRCA1 in these assays. Consistent with functional data, tumours from 1708E carriers showed typical BRCA1 pathology, while tumour material from 1706A carriers displayed few histopathological features associated with BRCA1 related tumours.

CONCLUSIONS

A comprehensive range of genetic, bioinformatic, and functional analyses have been combined for the characterisation of BRCA1 unclassified sequence variants. Consistent with the functional analyses, the combined odds of causality calculated for the 1706A variant after multifactorial likelihood analysis (1:142) indicates a definitive classification of this variant as "benign". In contrast, functional assays of the 1708E variant indicate that it is pathogenic, possibly through subcellular mislocalisation. However, the combined odds of 262:1 in favour of causality of this variant does not meet the minimal ratio of 1000:1 for classification as pathogenic, and A1708E remains formally designated as unclassified. Our findings highlight the importance of comprehensive genetic information, together with detailed functional analysis for the definitive categorisation of unclassified sequence variants. This combination of analyses may have direct application to the characterisation of other unclassified variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2.

A biochemical analysis demonstrates that the BRCA1 intronic variant IVS10-2A--> C is a mutation

Sequence analysis of cDNA from an asymptomatic patient belonging to a high-risk breast cancer family carrying the genetic variant BRCA1 IVS10-2A-->C revealed that functional BRCA1 mRNA was derived from only one of the patient's chromosomes. The other chromosome produced an aberrant RNA splicing transcript that deleted exon 11. Analysis of the patient's genomic DNA demonstrated that the chromosome producing the non-functional mRNA carried the genotype BRCA1 IVS10-2A-->C. This transversion disrupts a highly conserved base in the consensus splice acceptor motif. These results support the conclusion that BRCA1 IVS10-2A-->C is a mutation that confers predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer.