Omics of hereditary breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. Although advances in our understanding of this disease have been made in the last decade, the available treatments remain inadequate, particularly for the more intractable forms of breast cancer. Hereditary or familial breast cancer poses a particularly difficult challenge as only a few susceptibility genes with high penetrance have been identified, namely, BRCA1 and BRCA2. It is now suspected that the majority of hereditary and familial breast cancers are caused by various combinations of several moderate- and/or low-penetrance genes. Recent developments in research methodologies and conceptual frameworks within biology have revolutionized the study of cancer. This systems approach, which emphasizes a holistic understanding of biological systems, is referred to generally as omics. A decade of omics research has led to the identification of many new therapeutic targets and biomarkers, allowing for more accurate and earlier diagnosis and treatment of the wide spectrum of diseases that are collectively referred to as breast cancer. Here we review the contributions of several omics fields to our understanding of hereditary and familial breast cancer, namely, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.