Relevance of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variants in treating triple negative breast cancer patients

Given that the germline mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 confer genetic susceptibility to cancer, the genetic variations, polymorphisms or mutations are widely analyzed in Western countries. However, in Asian population, the prevalence of BRCA1 and BRCA2 polymorphisms is very limited. In Asia, breast cancer occurs in women early with an age of onset under 50 years. This review comprises the incidence of BRCA1 and BRCA2 polymorphisms in the Japanese, Korean and Malaysian population. Founder mutations of BRCA1 and BRCA2 were also compared to mark the genetic difference in these populations. The mutational analysis performed to analyze the entire coding region of BRCA1 and BRCA2 include the next generation sequencing and full sequencing of all exons and intron-exon junctions. From the diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients, TNBC is associated with the lack of tailored therapies and the treatment option available for TNBC patients is mainly chemotherapy. The poor prognosis of TNBC leads to determine the predictive biomarkers in order to develop treatment efficacy. This review will address the current clinical therapies available to treat TNBC patients.