Frequency of p53 mutations in breast carcinomas from Ashkenazi Jewish carriers of BRCA1 mutations

ring in carriers of BRCA1 gene muta-tions may have a distinctly different pathway of molecular pathogenesis from those occurring in noncarriers. Data from murine models implicate loss of p53 (also known as TP53) gene function as a critical early event in the malignant transformation of cells with a BRCA1 mutation. Therefore, breast tumors from BRCA1 mutation carriers might be ex-pected to exhibit a high frequency of p53 mutations. This study examined the fre-quency of p53 mutations in the breast tumors of Ashkenazi Jewish carriers and noncarriers of BRCA1 mutations. Meth