Down-Regulation of BRCA1 in Chronic Pancreatitis and Sporadic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Abstract
Purpose: BRCA1 and BRCA2 are considered to be breast cancer susceptibility genes that may also contribute to pancreatic cancer development because family studies revealed mutation carriers to have an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. However, as demonstrated for breast and ovarian cancer, inactivation of BRCA in sporadic diseases is based on alteration in gene expression or functional alteration.