Table 2 Breast Cancer- incidental BRCA1/2 breast cancer findings story

Prediction of genetic risk for disease is needed for preventive medicine. Decreasing NGS cost made genome-wide analyses affordable to assess variation in cancer susceptibility genes. The genome sequencing data provided by the Qatar Genome project and Qatar Biobank set the stage for cancer genomics studies in Qatar.

Studying the genetic variation of cancer genes in the Qatari population, researchers from WCMQ, Sidra Medicine and HBKU-QCRI analyzed the genomes of 6000 Qatari. They obtained sequence details of more than 786 cancer genes including BRCA1 and BRCA2 that are known to be responsible of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancers.

The analyses revealed the presence of pathogenic BRCA1/2 mutations in 20 Qatari subjects. Given the high risk of breast and ovarian cancers in these individuals and/or other members of their families, a task force was formed by QPMI and HMC to setup a work plan for intervention and genetic counseling.