Obesity as a Risk for BRCA Mutation Carriers

Individuals with an inherited mutation in the DNA repair genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. The risk is increased if they are obese (body mass index – BMI) ≥ 30, or overweight.

Bhardwaj et al. (1) evaluated the impact of a BRCA mutation in breast tissue of carriers with high and low BMI. Their study of healthy breast tissue from 69 BRCA gene mutation carriers undergoing mastectomies found that DNA damage increased with body mass index. The findings provided mechanistic evidence in support of a link between elevated BMI and breast cancer development in BRCA mutation carriers. This suggests that maintaining a lower BMI or pharmacologically targeting estrogen or metabolic dysfunction may reduce the risk of breast cancer in this population.