Methods for diagnosing and characterizing breast cancer and susceptibility to breast cancer

摘要

Methods and kits for diagnosing and characterizing breast cancer or a susceptibility to breast cancer are described herein. Diagnosis and characterization methods comprise detecting the BARD1 Cys557Ser allele or a haplotype comprising the BARD1 Cys557Ser allele in patients with or without a familial predisposition to cancer. The methods described herein further allow for the characterization of a tumor as invasive or non-invasive, and allow for the prediction of whether a patient who has a primary tumor is likely to develop a second primary tumor.