PURPOSE: CHEK2 is the frequently detected cancer-predisposing gene in female breast cancer. In addition, the association with the risks of other cancer types has been suggested, and clinical management has also been discussed. Although clinical relevance of germline variants differs across population, there is little evidence of the clinical relevance of CHEK2 germline variants in East Asia. METHODS: Targeted sequencing and functional analyses of missense variants for the coding region of CHEK2 in 111,571 East Asian individuals were performed. Variants classified as pathogenic/likely pathogenic in ClinVar, predicted loss-of-function, or functionally impaired in functional analysis were defined as germline damaging variants (gDVs). We evaluated the association between CHEK2 gDVs and the risk of 23 cancer types. We also compared the clinical characteristics of carriers and noncarriers among patients with CHEK2-associated cancers. RESULTS: We identified 77 gDVs including 36 functionally impaired missense variants. CHEK2 gDVs were significantly associated exclusively with prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.8 [95% CI, 1.2 to 2.6]; P = 1.7 × 10-3), in addition to female breast cancer (OR, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.3 to 2.6]; P = 1.2 × 10-3), among 23 cancer types. There were no differences in age at diagnosis, pathologic status, and prognosis between carriers and noncarriers. Besides, there was no association with the risk of cancer types with high incidence rates in East Asian countries. CONCLUSION: CHEK2 gDVs were associated with female breast and prostate cancer risks in East Asia. The necessity of additional systematic clinical management for all CHEK2 gDV carriers should be carefully discussed, and standard cancer screening is recommended unless no other clinical features suggestive of cancer predisposition are noted in East Asia.

• MeSH
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 * genetics   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Genetic Predisposition to Disease MeSH
• Risk Assessment MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Neoplasms * genetics   epidemiology   MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Case-Control Studies MeSH
• Germ-Line Mutation MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Asia, Eastern epidemiology   MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 * MeSH
• CHEK2 protein, human MeSH Browser

The subset of ovarian cancer (OC) diagnosed ≤ 30yo represents a distinct subgroup exhibiting disparities from late-onset OC in many aspects, including indefinite germline cancer predisposition. We performed DNA/RNA-WES with HLA-typing, PRS assessment and survival analysis in 123 early-onset OC-patients compared to histology/stage-matched late-onset and unselected OC-patients, and population-matched controls. Only 6/123(4.9%) early-onset OC-patients carried a germline pathogenic variant (GPV) in high-penetrance OC-predisposition genes. Nevertheless, our comprehensive germline analysis of early-onset OC-patients revealed two divergent trajectories of potential germline susceptibility. Firstly, overrepresentation analysis highlighted a connection to breast cancer (BC) that was supported by the CHEK2 GPV enrichment in early-onset OC(p = 1.2 × 10-4), and the presumably BC-specific PRS313, which successfully stratified early-onset OC-patients from controls(p = 0.03). The second avenue pointed towards the impaired immune response, indicated by LY75-CD302 GPV(p = 8.3 × 10-4) and diminished HLA diversity compared with controls(p = 3 × 10-7). Furthermore, we found a significantly higher overall GPV burden in early-onset OC-patients compared to controls(p = 3.8 × 10-4). The genetic predisposition to early-onset OC appears to be a heterogeneous and complex process that goes beyond the traditional Mendelian monogenic understanding of hereditary cancer predisposition, with a significant role of the immune system. We speculate that rather a cumulative overall GPV burden than specific GPV may potentially increase OC risk, concomitantly with reduced HLA diversity.

• Keywords
• Early-onset, Germline whole exome sequencing, HLA, Mutation burden, Ovarian cancer, Polygenic risk score,
• MeSH
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 genetics   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Genetic Predisposition to Disease * MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Ovarian Neoplasms * genetics   MeSH
• Case-Control Studies MeSH
• Age of Onset * MeSH
• Germ-Line Mutation * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 MeSH

Germline CHEK2 pathogenic variants confer an increased risk of female breast cancer (FBC). Here we describe a recurrent germline intronic variant c.1009-118_1009-87delinsC, which showed a splice acceptor shift in RNA analysis, introducing a premature stop codon (p.Tyr337PhefsTer37). The variant was found in 21/10,204 (0.21%) Czech FBC patients compared to 1/3250 (0.03%) controls (p = 0.04) and in 4/3639 (0.11%) FBC patients from an independent German dataset. In addition, we found this variant in 5/2966 (0.17%) Czech (but none of the 443 German) ovarian cancer patients, three of whom developed early-onset tumors. Based on these observations, we classified this variant as likely pathogenic.

• Keywords
• Breast cancer, Deep intronic CHEK2 variant, Genetic testing, NGS, RNA analysis,
• MeSH
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 * genetics   MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Genetic Predisposition to Disease * genetics   MeSH
• Introns * genetics   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Breast Neoplasms * genetics   MeSH
• Ovarian Neoplasms genetics   MeSH
• RNA Precursors genetics   MeSH
• RNA Splicing * genetics   MeSH
• Germ-Line Mutation * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Germany MeSH
• Names of Substances
• CHEK2 protein, human MeSH Browser

PURPOSE: Germline pathogenic variants in CHEK2 confer moderately elevated breast cancer risk (odds ratio, OR ∼ 2.5), qualifying carriers for enhanced breast cancer screening. Besides pathogenic variants, dozens of missense CHEK2 variants of uncertain significance (VUS) have been identified, hampering the clinical utility of germline genetic testing (GGT). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We collected 460 CHEK2 missense VUS identified by the ENIGMA consortium in 15 countries. Their functional characterization was performed using CHEK2-complementation assays quantifying KAP1 phosphorylation and CHK2 autophosphorylation in human RPE1-CHEK2-knockout cells. Concordant results in both functional assays were used to categorize CHEK2 VUS from 12 ENIGMA case-control datasets, including 73,048 female patients with breast cancer and 88,658 ethnicity-matched controls. RESULTS: A total of 430/460 VUS were successfully analyzed, of which 340 (79.1%) were concordant in both functional assays and categorized as functionally impaired (N = 102), functionally intermediate (N = 12), or functionally wild-type (WT)-like (N = 226). We then examined their association with breast cancer risk in the case-control analysis. The OR and 95% CI (confidence intervals) for carriers of functionally impaired, intermediate, and WT-like variants were 2.83 (95% CI, 2.35-3.41), 1.57 (95% CI, 1.41-1.75), and 1.19 (95% CI, 1.08-1.31), respectively. The meta-analysis of population-specific datasets showed similar results. CONCLUSIONS: We determined the functional consequences for the majority of CHEK2 missense VUS found in patients with breast cancer (3,660/4,436; 82.5%). Carriers of functionally impaired missense variants accounted for 0.5% of patients with breast cancer and were associated with a moderate risk similar to that of truncating CHEK2 variants. In contrast, 2.2% of all patients with breast cancer carried functionally wild-type/intermediate missense variants with no clinically relevant breast cancer risk in heterozygous carriers.

• MeSH
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 genetics   MeSH
• Genetic Predisposition to Disease MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Mutation, Missense MeSH
• Breast Neoplasms * epidemiology   genetics   MeSH
• Germ Cells MeSH
• Germ-Line Mutation MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Meta-Analysis MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Checkpoint Kinase 2 MeSH
• CHEK2 protein, human MeSH Browser

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological malignancy in developed countries. The present study aimed to determine the frequency of germline pathogenic variants (PV) in patients with EC. In this multicenter retrospective cohort study, germline genetic testing (GGT) was performed in 527 patients with EC using a next generation sequencing panel targeting 226 genes, including 5 Lynch syndrome (LS) and 14 hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) predisposition genes, and 207 candidate predisposition genes. Gene-level risks were calculated using 1,662 population-matched controls (PMCs). Patients were sub-categorized to fulfill GGT criteria for LS, HBOC, both or none. A total of 60 patients (11.4%) carried PV in LS (5.1%) and HBOC (6.6%) predisposition genes, including two carriers of double PV. PV in LS genes conferred a significantly higher EC risk [odds ratio (OR), 22.4; 95% CI, 7.8-64.3; P=1.8×10-17] than the most frequently altered HBOC genes BRCA1 (OR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.6-9.5; P=0.001), BRCA2 (OR, 7.4; 95% CI, 1.9-28.9; P=0.002) and CHEK2 (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.0-9.9; P=0.04). Furthermore, >6% of patients with EC not fulfilling LS or HBOC GGT indication criteria carried a PV in a clinically relevant gene. Carriers of PV in LS genes had a significantly lower age of EC onset than non-carriers (P=0.01). Another 11.0% of patients carried PV in a candidate gene (the most frequent were FANCA and MUTYH); however, their individual frequencies did not differ from PMCs (except for aggregated frequency of loss-of-function variants in POLE/POLD1; OR, 10.44; 95% CI, 1.1-100.5; P=0.012). The present study demonstrated the importance of GGT in patients with EC. The increased risk of EC of PV carriers in HBOC genes suggests that the diagnosis of EC should be included in the HBOC GGT criteria.

• Keywords
• EC, germline mutations, multigene panel testing, uterine malignancies,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Pathogenic germline mutations c.1100delC and p.I157T in the CHEK2 gene have been associated with increased risk of breast, colon, kidney, prostate, and thyroid cancers; however, no associations have yet been identified between these two most common European founder mutations of the CHEK2 gene and ovarian cancers of any type. Our review of 78 female heterozygous carriers of these mutations (age > 18 years) found strikingly higher proportion of adult-type granulosa cell tumors of the ovary (AGCTs) among ovarian cancers that developed in these women (~36%) compared to women from the general population (1.3%). Based on this finding, we performed a cross-sectional study that included 93 cases previously diagnosed with granulosa cell tumors, refined and validated their AGCT diagnosis through an IHC study, determined their status for the two CHEK2 mutations, and compared the prevalence of these mutations in the AGCT cases and reference populations. The prevalence ratios for the p.I157T mutation in the AGCT group relative to the global (PR = 26.52; CI95: 12.55−56.03) and European non-Finnish populations (PR = 24.55; CI95: 11.60−51.97) support an association between the CHEK2p.I157T mutation and AGCTs. These rare gynecologic tumors have not been previously associated with known risk factors and genetic predispositions. Furthermore, our results support the importance of the determination of the FOXL2p.C134W somatic mutation for accurate diagnosis of AGCTs and suggest a combination of IHC markers that can serve as a surrogate diagnostic marker to infer the mutational status of this FOXL2 allele.

• Keywords
• 1100delC, CHEK2, FOXL2, I157T, SF1, adult-type granulosa cell tumor, calretinin, granulosa cell tumor, inhibin, ovarian cancer,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

(1) Background: The proportion and spectrum of germline pathogenic variants (PV) associated with an increased risk for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) varies among populations. (2) Methods: We analyzed 72 Belgian and 226 Czech PDAC patients by multigene panel testing. The prevalence of pathogenic variants (PV) in relation to personal/family cancer history were evaluated. PDAC risks were calculated using both gnomAD-NFE and population-matched controls. (3) Results: In 35/298 (11.7%) patients a PV in an established PDAC-predisposition gene was found. BRCA1/2 PV conferred a high risk in both populations, ATM and Lynch genes only in the Belgian subgroup. PV in other known PDAC-predisposition genes were rarer. Interestingly, a high frequency of CHEK2 PV was observed in both patient populations. PV in PDAC-predisposition genes were more frequent in patients with (i) multiple primary cancers (12/38; 32%), (ii) relatives with PDAC (15/56; 27%), (iii) relatives with breast/ovarian/colorectal cancer or melanoma (15/86; 17%) but more rare in sporadic PDAC (5/149; 3.4%). PV in homologous recombination genes were associated with improved overall survival (HR = 0.51; 95% CI 0.34-0.77). (4) Conclusions: Our analysis emphasizes the value of multigene panel testing in PDAC patients, especially in individuals with a positive family cancer history, and underlines the importance of population-matched controls for risk assessment.

• Keywords
• family history, germline, multigene panel testing, overall survival, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH