Skip Navigation

JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1999 91(24):2107-2111; doi:10.1093/jnci/91.24.2107
© 1999 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Firgaira, F. A.
Right arrow Articles by Hopper, J. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Firgaira, F. A.
Right arrow Articles by Hopper, J. L.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 91, No. 24, 2107-2111, December 15, 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press

REPORTS

HRAS1 Rare Minisatellite Alleles and Breast Cancer in Australian Women Under Age Forty Years

Frank A. Firgaira, Ram Seshadri, Christopher R. E. McEvoy, Gillian S. Dite, Graham G. Giles, Margaret R. E. McCredie, Melissa C. Southey, Deon J. Venter, John L. Hopper

Affiliations of authors: F. A. Firgaira, R. Seshadri, C. R. E. McEvoy, Department of Haematology and Genetic Pathology, Flinders University and Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia; G. S. Dite, J. L. Hopper, The University of Melbourne, Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, Carlton, Victoria, Australia; G. G. Giles, Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, Carlton, Australia; M. R. E. McCredie, Cancer and Epidemiology Research Unit, New South Wales Cancer Council, Kings Cross, Australia, and Department of Preventative and Social Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand; M. C. Southey, D. J. Venter, Department of Pathology and Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.

Correspondence to: John L. Hopper, Ph.D., The University of Melbourne, Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, 200 Berkeley St., Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia (e-mail: j.hopper{at}gpph.unimelb.edu.au).

BACKGROUND: A recent meta-analysis of 23 studies supported the empirically derived hypothesis that women who lack one of the four common minisatellite alleles at the HRAS1 locus are at increased risk of breast cancer. These studies relied on visual sizing of alleles on electrophoretic gels and may have underreported rare alleles. We determined whether this hypothesis applied to early-onset breast cancer by using a new method to size minisatellite alleles. METHODS: We conducted a population-based, case-control-family study of 249 Australian women under 40 years old at diagnosis of a first primary breast cancer and 234 randomly selected women, frequency matched for age. We sized HRAS1 minisatellite alleles with an Applied Biosystems model 373 automated DNA sequencer and GENESCANTM software. All P values are two-sided. RESULTS: We found no association of rare alleles with breast cancer, before or after adjustment for risk factors and irrespective of how their effects were modeled (crude odds ratio = 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.071-1.53; P = .8). The rare allele frequency was 0.173 (95% CI = 0.149-0.197), three times the pooled estimate of 0.058 (95% CI = 0.050-0.066) from previous studies (P<.001), and was similar for case subjects, 0.177 (95% CI = 0.143-0.221), and control subjects, 0.169 (95% CI = 0.135-0.203) (P = .7). CONCLUSION: There was no support for an association between rare HRAS1 alleles and the risk of early-onset breast cancer, despite 80% power to detect effects of the magnitude of those associations (1.7-fold) previously suggested. IMPLICATIONS: The question of whether cancer risk is associated with rare minisatellite HRAS1 alleles needs to be revisited with the use of new methods that have a greater ability to distinguish rare alleles from similarly sized common alleles.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Pathol.Home page
F. Farassati, W. Pan, F. Yamoutpour, S. Henke, M. Piedra, S. Frahm, S. Al-Tawil, W. I. Mangrum, L. F. Parada, S. D. Rabkin, et al.
Ras Signaling Influences Permissiveness of Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor Cells to Oncolytic Herpes
Am. J. Pathol., December 1, 2008; 173(6): 1861 - 1872.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JNCI J Natl Cancer InstHome page
J. P. A. Ioannidis
Common genetic variants for breast cancer: 32 largely refuted candidates and larger prospects.
J Natl Cancer Inst, October 4, 2006; 98(19): 1350 - 1353.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.Home page
O. Fletcher, L. Gibson, N. Johnson, D. R. Altmann, J. M.P. Holly, A. Ashworth, J. Peto, and I. d. S. Silva
Polymorphisms and Circulating Levels in the Insulin-Like Growth Factor System and Risk of Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., January 1, 2005; 14(1): 2 - 19.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.Home page
R. M. Tamimi, S. E. Hankinson, S. Ding, V. Gagalang, G. P. Larson, D. Spiegelman, G. A. Colditz, T. G. Krontiris, and D. J. Hunter
The HRAS1 Variable Number of Tandem Repeats and Risk of Breast Cancer
Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev., December 1, 2003; 12(12): 1528 - 1530.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum Mol GenetHome page
J. A. Langdon and J. A.L. Armour
Evolution and population genetics of the H-ras minisatellite and cancer predisposition
Hum. Mol. Genet., April 15, 2003; 12(8): 891 - 900.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Med. Genet.Home page
M M de Jong, I M Nolte, G J te Meerman, W T A van der Graaf, J C Oosterwijk, J H Kleibeuker, M Schaapveld, and E G E de Vries
Genes other than BRCA1 and BRCA2 involved in breast cancer susceptibility
J. Med. Genet., April 1, 2002; 39(4): 225 - 242.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JNCI J Natl Cancer InstHome page
T. G. Krontiris
Re: HRAS1 Rare Minisatellite Alleles and Breast Cancer in Australian Women Under Age Forty Years
J Natl Cancer Inst, May 3, 2000; 92(9): 755a - 756a.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.