Deleterious mutations in predisposition genes are present at high frequency in patients with TNBC unselected for family history of cancer. Mutation prevalence estimates suggest that patients with TNBC, regardless of age at diagnosis or family history of cancer, should be considered for germline genetic testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2. Although mutations in other predisposition genes are observed among patients with TNBC, better cancer risk estimates are needed before these mutations are used for clinical risk assessment in relatives.

Background: Given the high technical reproducibility and orders of magnitude greater resolution than microarrays, next-generation sequencing of mRNA (RNA-Seq) is quickly becoming the de facto standard for measuring levels of gene expression in biological experiments. Two important questions must be taken into consideration when designing a particular experiment, namely, 1) how deep does one need to sequence? and, 2) how many biological replicates are necessary to observe a significant change in expression?Results: Based on the gene expression distributions from 127 RNA-Seq experiments, we find evidence that 91% -4% of all annotated genes are sequenced at a frequency of 0.1 times per million bases mapped, regardless of sample source. Based on this observation, and combining this information with other parameters such as biological variation and technical variation that we empirically estimate from our large datasets, we developed a model to estimate the statistical power needed to identify differentially expressed genes from RNASeq experiments.Conclusions: Our results provide a needed reference for ensuring RNA-Seq gene expression studies are conducted with the optimally sample size, power, and sequencing depth. We also make available both R code and an Excel worksheet for investigators to calculate for their own experiments.

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10−8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09–1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10−8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17–1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10−8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17–1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific association. The 17q21.31 locus was also associated with ovarian cancer risk in 8,211 BRCA2 carriers (P = 2×10−4). These loci may lead to an improved understanding of the etiology of breast and ovarian tumors in BRCA1 carriers. Based on the joint distribution of the known BRCA1 breast cancer risk-modifying loci, we estimated that the breast cancer lifetime risks for the 5% of BRCA1 carriers at lowest risk are 28%–50% compared to 81%–100% for the 5% at highest risk. Similarly, based on the known ovarian cancer risk-modifying loci, the 5% of BRCA1 carriers at lowest risk have an estimated lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer of 28% or lower, whereas the 5% at highest risk will have a risk of 63% or higher. Such differences in risk may have important implications for risk prediction and clinical management for BRCA1 carriers.

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a bile acid-activated transcription factor belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily. FXR is highly expressed in liver and intestine and crosstalk mediated by FXR in these two organs is critical in maintaining bile acid homeostasis. FXR deficiency has been implicated in many liver and intestine diseases. However, regulation of transcription by FXR at the genomic level is not known. This study analyzed genome-wide FXR binding in liver and intestine of mice treated with a synthetic FXR ligand (GW4064) by chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-seq). The results showed a large degree of tissue-specific FXR binding, with only 11% of total sites shared between liver and intestine. The sites were widely distributed between intergenic, upstream, intragenic, and downstream of genes, with novel sites identified within even known FXR target genes. Motif analysis revealed a half nuclear receptor binding site, normally bound by a few orphan nuclear receptors, adjacent to the FXR response elements, indicating possible involvement of some orphan nuclear receptors in modulating FXR function. Furthermore, pathway analysis indicated that FXR may be extensively involved in multiple cellular metabolic pathways. Conclusion This study reports genome-wide FXR binding in vivo and the results clearly demonstrate tissue-specific FXR/gene interaction. In addition, FXR may be involved in regulating broader biological pathways in maintaining hepatic and intestinal homeostasis.

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