Neste trabalho, medimos o impacto da avaliação do risco de mutações dos genes BRCA1/2 na qualidade de vida de pacientes com câncer de mama, avaliada pelos questionários EORTC QLQ-C30 e QLQ-BR23. Convidamos 282 pacientes a participar, respondendo aos questionários antes e depois da avaliação do risco pelos métodos de Frank, Evans e BRCAPRO. Consideramos risco elevado pelo menos 10%. 272 foram incluídas e 198 completaram o estudo. Nas 180 avaliáveis, a idade mediana das pacientes foi de 53 anos com desvio padrão de 11,5 anos e, em 89, o tempo desde o diagnóstico de menos de 36 meses. 40 pacientes estavam em seguimento e 137 em hormonioterapia. Não detectamos alterações significativas da qualidade de vida com a determinação do risco para mutações. Houve diferença significativa entre imagem corporal negativa e cirurgia conservadora da mama (p<0,001). Classificamos 45 como risco elevado pelo método de Frank, 35 pelo BRCAPRO e 21 por Evans, sendo que em 12 dessas pacientes houve concordância dos três métodos juntos. Concluímos que, apesar do grande interesse demonstrado pelas pacientes em participar no estudo, a determinação do risco não interferiu na qualidade de vida dessas pacientes. Aparentemente, as informações sobre hereditariedade são desejadas, mas não acarretam estresse adicional e deveriam ser prestadas, pois o número de pacientes com risco elevado é semelhante ao indicado em outras populações. Além disso, a baixa concordância entre os métodos utilizados indica a necessidade de definir parâmetros para determinação de risco em nosso meio. / Here we evaluated the “impact of breast cancer hereditary cancer risk evaluation’ on the quality of life in a population of breast cancer patients, as measured by the EORTC questionnaires QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR23. Of the 282 invited patients, 272 agree to participate and answered QLQ before and after the risk determination by Frank, Evans and BRCAPRO methods. High risk was defined as at least 10%. Overall 198 pts completed the study. In the 180 evaluable patients, median age was 53 (+11,5) years old and time since diagnosis was less than 36 months in 89. We did not detected significant differences in quality of life parameters after risk determination, except for negative body image and mastectomy/conservative surgery (p<0.001) There were 45 patients classified as high risk by Frank, 35 by the BRCAPRO and 21 by Evans, agreement being reached in 12. We conclude that pts wish to know about their hereditary breast cancer risk, and this do not cause necessarily more stress. Apart from that, there is a need for local methods of risk calculation.

Neste trabalho, medimos o impacto da avaliação do risco de mutações dos genes BRCA1/2 na qualidade de vida de pacientes com câncer de mama, avaliada pelos questionários EORTC QLQ-C30 e QLQ-BR23. Convidamos 282 pacientes a participar, respondendo aos questionários antes e depois da avaliação do risco pelos métodos de Frank, Evans e BRCAPRO. Consideramos risco elevado pelo menos 10%. 272 foram incluídas e 198 completaram o estudo. Nas 180 avaliáveis, a idade mediana das pacientes foi de 53 anos com desvio padrão de 11,5 anos e, em 89, o tempo desde o diagnóstico de menos de 36 meses. 40 pacientes estavam em seguimento e 137 em hormonioterapia. Não detectamos alterações significativas da qualidade de vida com a determinação do risco para mutações. Houve diferença significativa entre imagem corporal negativa e cirurgia conservadora da mama (p<0,001). Classificamos 45 como risco elevado pelo método de Frank, 35 pelo BRCAPRO e 21 por Evans, sendo que em 12 dessas pacientes houve concordância dos três métodos juntos. Concluímos que, apesar do grande interesse demonstrado pelas pacientes em participar no estudo, a determinação do risco não interferiu na qualidade de vida dessas pacientes. Aparentemente, as informações sobre hereditariedade são desejadas, mas não acarretam estresse adicional e deveriam ser prestadas, pois o número de pacientes com risco elevado é semelhante ao indicado em outras populações. Além disso, a baixa concordância entre os métodos utilizados indica a necessidade de definir parâmetros para determinação de risco em nosso meio. / Here we evaluated the “impact of breast cancer hereditary cancer risk evaluation’ on the quality of life in a population of breast cancer patients, as measured by the EORTC questionnaires QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BR23. Of the 282 invited patients, 272 agree to participate and answered QLQ before and after the risk determination by Frank, Evans and BRCAPRO methods. High risk was defined as at least 10%. Overall 198 pts completed the study. In the 180 evaluable patients, median age was 53 (+11,5) years old and time since diagnosis was less than 36 months in 89. We did not detected significant differences in quality of life parameters after risk determination, except for negative body image and mastectomy/conservative surgery (p<0.001) There were 45 patients classified as high risk by Frank, 35 by the BRCAPRO and 21 by Evans, agreement being reached in 12. We conclude that pts wish to know about their hereditary breast cancer risk, and this do not cause necessarily more stress. Apart from that, there is a need for local methods of risk calculation.

Environ 6000 à 8000 maladies rares différentes existent aujourd’hui, affectant environ 6 à 8% de la population mondiale. La grande majorité d’entre elles correspond à des maladies génétiques, pour lesquelles il n'existe pas de traitement curatif. La révolution génomique a augmenté l’espoir d’obtenir des traitements spécifiques du défaut génétique pour de nombreuses maladies. Dans ces conditions, le traitement et l’analyse des données ne sont pas triviaux et s’éloignent de la simple routine.Cette thèse rapporte la création de Saut d'exon, capables d’aider les chercheurs et les cliniciens à identifier les mutations responsables de certaines maladies et développer de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques. Ainsi, les systèmes Human Splicing Finder et UMD-Predictor permettent respectivement de prédire l’effet d’une mutation sur l’épissage et la fonction de la protéine. Ils ont été validés grâce à des jeux de données de référence et/ou issus de la littérature, et peuvent aider les cliniciens à annoter correctement les variations de signification inconnue. De plus, cette thèse propose deux outils à visées thérapeutiques : Skip-E, un outil d’identification des AON candidats à la thérapie par saut d’exon, et NR-Analyser, un système de prédiction des codons de terminaison prématurés candidats à la thérapie par translecture des codons stop.Ces différents systèmes s'intègrent dans un projet plus global dédié à la recherche translationnelle. Par ces deux volets, prédictif et thérapeutique, cette thèse s’inscrit dans une stratégie de recherche en adéquation avec les objectifs du Consortium International pour la Recherche contre les Maladies Rares, l’IRDiRC. / About 6,000 to 8,000 distinct rare diseases exist today and are estimated to affect 6-8% of the world population. The vast majority of them are genetic and for most of them there is no cure. The genomic revolution has increased the hope of specific treatments based on the gene for many diseases. New technologies have emerged, changing drastically data scale produced in biomedical research. In these conditions, treatment and analysis of data are far from trivial and mere routine, despite spectacular advances in computer technology.This thesis reports the creation of bioinformatics systems, capable of helping researchers and clinicians to identify mutations responsible for certain diseases and to develop new therapies. Thus, the Human Splicing Finder and UMD-Predictor systems predict the effect of a mutation on splicing and protein, respectively. Both bioinformatics systems have been validated through high quality reference datasets, and may help clinicians to properly annotate variations of unknown significance. In addition, this thesis offers two new systems for therapeutic purposes: the Skip-E system identifies optimal candidates AONs for exon skipping therapies, and NR-Analyser, a system that predicts premature termination codons potentially candidates to nonsense readthrough therapies.These different systems are part of a larger project dedicated to translational research. With its predictive and therapeutic aspects, this thesis is part of a research strategy matching with the objectives of the IRDiRC (International Rare Diseases Research Consortium).

Des mutations germinales dans les gènes majeurs du cancer du sein BRCA1 et BRCA2 sont responsables de la maladie chez les patientes cumulant histoire familiale et apparition du cancer à un jeune âge. Environ 15% des femmes testées pour les mutations de BRCA1 et BRCA2 sont porteuses d’une mutation clairement pathogénique dans un des deux gènes. Cependant, des variants de signification clinique incertaine (VUS pour "variants of uncertain clinical significance") sont détectés dans 5% à 15% des cas testés. Pour évaluer la signification clinique des VUS, le Breast cancer Infomation Core (BIC) a développé un modèle Bayésien intégré, basé sur des données d'observations. Align-GVGD, un algorithme d'évaluation des substitutions faux-sens basé sur l'histoire évolutionnaire de la protéine fournit la probabilité a priori du modèle. Cependant, lorsqu'une substitution silencieuse est détectée, elle sera jugée comme neutre par l'évaluation in silico. Pourtant, une mutation au niveau de l'ARNm peut perturber la mécanique de l'épissage, par deux moyens principaux: endommagement des sites sauvages d'épissage, ou la création de sites exoniques d'épissage de novo. Notre premier objectif est de rassembler les variants déjà publiés, de les re-analyser avec le modèle d'évaluation intégrée. Nous voulons extraire le plus de variants publiés premièrement sous le statut de VUS vers un statut plus informatif, avec des recommandations cliniques associées. Par la suite, nous voulons étendre le modèle pour évaluer plus de variants, plus précisément, en intégrant l'évaluation des perturbations de l'épissage. Finalement, nous serons capable de présenter et de fournir ces informations librement sur Internet, via une interface web populaire, une Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD) / Germline mutations in major breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are responsible for the disease for high-risk patients (patients with early onset and familial history of breast cancer). Around 15% of screened women for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations carry one clearly pathogenic mutation in one of those two genes. However, variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS) are detected in 5% to 15% of tested patients. To assess clinical significance of VUS, the Breast cancer Information Core (BIC) has developed a Bayesian integrated model, based on observational data. Align-GVGD, an algorithm evaluating damage of missense substitutions based on the evolutionary history of the protein, is providing the prior probability of the model. However, whenever a silent substitution arise, it is firstly treated as neutral by the in silico assessment. Indeed, a mutation at the mRNA level can disrupt the splicing machinery by two main means: damaging wild-type splice sites, or creating exonic de novo splice sites. Our first goal is to be a central repository of already published variants, to re-analyze them using the unified integrated evaluation model. We would like to extract the most variants from the original published status of VUS to a more informative status, with associated clinical recommendations. Then we would like to extend the model to be able to evaluate more variants more precisely by adding the splicing damages assessment in the integrated evaluation. In the end, we will be able to provide these informations freely on Internet, via a widely use web interface, a Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD)

Environ 5 à 10 % des cancers du sein et de l’ovaire sont liés à des prédispositions génétiques héréditaires. Les principaux gènes responsables de telles prédispositions sont BRCA1 et BRCA2. Depuis plusieurs années, l’analyse de ces gènes est proposée dans un cadre clinique. Aux Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG) en Suisse, une consultation d’oncogénétique a été mise sur pied dès 1994 pour les personnes concernées par leurs antécédents personnels et familiaux de cancer. Jusqu’en 2009, le seul laboratoire suisse assurant l’analyse des gènes BRCA1/BRCA2 était établi aux HUG. Ce travail de thèse intègre, d’une part, des études en lien avec la démarche clinique de conseil génétique pour les formes familiales et héréditaires de cancer du sein et de l’ovaire et, d’autre part, une évaluation détaillée des données moléculaires résultant des analyses (n= 1'163) des gènes BRCA1/BRCA2 réalisées aux HUG entre 1996 et 2009. Des perspectives quant au développement de l’oncologie prédictive aux HUG et en Suisse, et à l’activité de conseillère en génétique particulièrement dans ce domaine, sont finalement présentées. / Genetic predispositions are responsible for 5 to 10 % of all breast and ovarian cancers. The main breast/ovarian cancer predisposing genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2. For some years, the screening of pathogenic mutations in BRCA1/BRCA2 genes is provided in a clinical setting. At the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG, Geneva, Switzerland), a consultation in predictive oncology has been set up since 1994 for individuals concerned by the evaluation of their familial cancer risk and the probability to carry a genetic predisposition to cancer. Until 2009, the single national laboratory for BRCA1/BRCA2 testing was established in the HUG. The objectives of this work were to evaluate different aspects of the consultation process for breast/ovarian cancer predisposition syndromes provided in our Unit and to review all BRCA1/BRCA2 complete screenings (n=1’163) performed between 1996 and 2009. Results of the present study will certainly influence future activity in predictive oncology, particularly regarding the role of the genetic counselor.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

A narrative qualitative research design was used to understand the stories of young women diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genetic mutation. Four participants were selected who met the following criteria: (a) the participant is diagnosed with BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation, b) is within the age range of 18 to 35, (c) is without a cancer diagnosis, and is (d) not currently pregnant and does not have children. The four participants were interviewed through open-ended inquiry. The participants’ narratives proved both similar and dissimilar. The themes were organized into within-case narratives and across-case narratives. The narratives revealed that young BRCA previvors face unique challenges and experiences, and many can be viewed from an underlying feminist lens. In response to the research questions, BRCA previvors revealed detailed narratives, explored issues of family planning, and explained the ways in which BRCA has changed their worldviews.

In spite of the fact that prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in both Sweden and many other countries in the developed world, little is known of risk factors and predisposing conditions. The only well recognized risk factors are age, race and familial aggregation. More knowledge about risk factors could lead to better preventive measures together with better treatments. One way to evaluate this is to study second primary cancers; the connection between two different cancers can give valuable insight in etiology or clues to shared risk factors. This thesis aims at evaluating risk factors for prostate cancer. We constructed a cohort of 135,713 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and reported to the Swedish Cancer Registry 1958-1996. The cohort was followed for second primary cancers and a doubled risk of male breast cancer was found. We also noted increased risks for small intestine cancers and melanoma. As a follow-up on the increased risk of male breast cancer, we performed a nested case – control study. Included cases were men with first prostate and then breast cancer (n = 41) matched to men with only prostate cancer (n =81). For these men, we collected medical records and extracted data regarding treatment. Furthermore, all men diagnosed with both prostate and breast cancer irrespective which came first (n = 83) were used as probands. To both these sets of cases with breast and prostate cancer, we identified first degree relatives and grandchildren from parish offices throughout Sweden. Linking to the Cancer Registry retrieved all cancer diagnoses amongst relatives. Results from this study show a relation between estrogen treatment of prostate cancer and the risk of developing breast cancer. We also found that a small part of the cases with both cancers appeared in families with inheritance patterns possibly attributed to BRCA2. As estrogen treatment seemed involved in increased risk of breast cancer after prostate cancer, we wanted to investigate the newly discovered Estrogen receptor β and the relation to prostate cancer risk. Previous reports have shown that ERβ acts as a negative regulator of proliferation. ERβ expression occurs mainly in prostatic epithelial cells and the expression gradually diminishes when cancer develops and aggravates. We used a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association study approach to evaluate genetic variation in ERβ as a risk factor for prostate cancer. One SNP, located in the promoter region associated with a small increased risk of prostate cancer whereas variation in the rest of the gene did not. In the last paper, we investigated trans-urethral resection (TURP) of the prostate due to benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) as a risk factor for later development of prostate cancer. Evidence has gathered that both BPH and prostate cancer are associated to inflammation. By comparing incidence and mortality in a cohort of 7,901 men with the general population there appeared to be an increased risk of prostate cancer but decreased mortality. Analyzing this increased risk further, we conducted a nested case - control study with men extracted from the cohort. Cases had a TURP and later developed prostate cancer and controls just had a TURP. We then evaluated the specimens from TURP regarding extent of inflammation, degree of androgen receptor down regulation and expression of p53, all factors previous associated with prostate cancer. None of these parameters differed between cases and controls and they can therefore not explain the increased risk. Decreased mortality but increased risk might be explained by surveillance bias, which means more medical attention to these patients, resulting in diagnosing clinically non-significant cancers. In summary, our results show a doubled risk of male breast cancer following prostate cancer. A risk that can be attributed to the use of estrogen to treat prostate cancer or to some extent a possible mutation in BRCA2. We also propose that a SNP change in the ERβ promoter confer a small increased risk of prostate cancer. A small risk elevation of prostate cancer following TURP most probable could depend on surveillance bias.

Prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy, the preventive removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes, is recommended to women who carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation in order to reduce the risk of breast, ovarian and fallopian tube cancer. The short and long term health and quality of life effects of this procedure are not well understood. We examined the actual and perceived reduction in cancer risk associated with this surgery. The impact of prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy on health-related quality of life, psychological distress, cancer worry, menopausal symptoms, and sexual function during the year following surgery was also evaluated. In our prospective study, prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy was associated with an 80% reduction in ovarian and fallopian tube cancer risk. The residual risk for primary peritoneal cancer was 0.2% per year or 4.3% at 20 years after salpingo-oophorectomy. Most women accurately perceived their risk of breast cancer. However, the risk for ovarian cancer was overestimated, particularly by women who carry a BRCA2 mutation. Physical and mental health-related quality of life did not decrease in the year following surgery; and psychological distress was similar to levels experienced by the general population. Most women were significantly less worried about cancer after the surgery, however, a subset of women continued to experience significant cancer specific distress after prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy. Women who underwent prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy when premenopausal experienced a significant worsening of vasomotor symptoms and a decline in sexual functioning. Hormone replacement therapy mitigated these symptoms, but not to pre-surgical levels. Dyspareunia was somewhat alleviated by hormone replacement therapy, however, the decrease in sexual pleasure was not. Satisfaction with the decision to undergo prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy was high regardless of these symptoms. These studies will provide women who are considering prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy with information about the reduction in cancer risk associated with the surgery and the possible effects experienced during the year following surgery.