Pattern of breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 expression is a potential prognostic biomarker in resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

The tumor-suppressor breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) is a nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling protein that when in the nucleus is required for DNA repair whereas when in the cytoplasm is important in activating cell death processes. Although BRCA1 mutations have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), its role in disease progression is yet to be determined. We hypothesized that BRCA1 expression pattern could be used as a prognostic biomarker.