High frequency of skewed X inactivation in young breast cancer patients

Patients with invasive ovarian cancer were recently shown to have a higher frequency of skewed X chromosome inactivation in peripheral blood cells compared to patients with borderline cancer and controls. In this study, we analysed the X inactivation pattern in peripheral blood from 216 breast cancer patients.

X inactivation analysis was performed using HpaII predigestion of DNA followed by PCR of the highly polymorphic CAG repeat of the androgen receptor gene (AR), which amplifies the undigested inactive X chromosome only. The X inactivation pattern was classified as skewed when 90% or more of the cells preferentially used one X chromosome.

Young breast cancer patients (27-45 years) had a higher frequency of skewed X inactivation than young controls (13 and 1%, respectively) (p=0.009), whereas no difference was found for middle aged and older patients compared to controls of a similar age.

A germline mutation in an X linked tumour suppressor gene may give a proliferative advantage to cells with this mutation on the active X chromosome, thus causing skewed X inactivation and an increased risk for developing cancer. Another possible explanation could be that females with a constitutionally skewed X inactivation pattern are more susceptible to develop breast cancer because of an X linked low penetrance susceptibility allele that is affected by the inactivation pattern.