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Background: Although male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease, important geographic differences may help elucidate its etiology. For example, MBC in Europe and the U.S. accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers, whereas incidence in Africa is estimated to be both higher overall and more variable amongst regions. Research from Egypt during the 1970s and 1980s showed higher incidence of MBC than the current incidence of the disease in Egypt. Preliminary studies showed that the proportion of MBC in Morocco as 3% of all breast cancers, which would suggest the possibility of MBC being more common in certain regions of Africa. Little knowledge exists, however, about the actual proportion, risk factors, and clinical characteristics of MBC in Egypt and Morocco. The goals of the current study were to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics of MBC in Egypt and Morocco with a particular focus on place of residence, age at diagnosis, previous medical history including: family history of breast cancer, treatment seeking patterns, and BRCA2 germline and tumor status. Materials and Methods: We analyzed data from Egypt (National Cancer Institute of Cairo University and the Gharbiah population-based cancer registry) for years 1999-2008 and Morocco (Casablanca and Rabat hospital cancer registries) for years 2002-2008. Information was abstracted from medical records and pathology reports (Egypt: N=191; Morocco: N=131) and tissue samples were collected for analysis of BRCA2 expression, as described previously. Results: The 1999-2006 age-adjusted incidence rate for the Gharbiah province in Egypt is 1.79/105. Frequency of MBC, out of all breast cancer cases in Morocco is 2.6%. The median age is 58 years (+/− 15.2) and 66 years (+/− 14.4) for Egypt and Morocco, respectively. At both sites, a majority of patients presented with grade II cancer (Egypt: 78.4%, Morocco: 81.0%). The most common type of cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma (Egypt: 86.5%, Morocco: 68.5%), and both countries presented with a majority of ER positive (Egypt: 81.1%, Morocco: 85.5%) cases. In both countries, most cases came from urban areas (Egypt: 66.0%; Morocco: 67.9%) and were without a family history of any breast cancer (Egypt: 2.0%; Morocco: 3.9%). Immunohistochemical analysis showed BRCA2 protein truncation in 23.1% of Egyptian cases and 26.3% of Moroccan cases. Conclusion: Although the molecular pattern of MBC in North Africa resembles MBC in the US, the higher incidence suggests studies of the CAG repeat polymorphism of the androgen receptor gene, which are ongoing in cases and normal controls to help explain the potential higher risk of MBC in North Africa. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1813.

Résumé Introduction Le cancer du sein, première pathologie maligne chez la femme, reste une maladie rare chez l’homme. Il représente environ 1 % des cancers du sein et moins de 1 % de l’ensemble des néoplasies masculines. L’objectif de cette étude est d’analyser les caractéristiques cliniques, histologiques et thérapeutiques du cancer du sein chez l’homme. Patients et méthodes Les auteurs présentent une étude descriptive menée de manière rétrospective au service de radiothérapie-oncologie du CHU Ibn-Rochd de Casablanca, entre janvier 2006 et décembre 2007, concernant une série de 21 patients de sexe masculin présentant un cancer du sein. Résultats L’âge médian était de 70 ans (extrêmes: 39–84). Le délai médian de consultation était de huit mois (extrêmes: 2–24). Il s’agissait, dans 16 cas, d’une tumeur rétroaréolaire dont la taille médiane était de 35 mm (extrêmes: 15–80). Les tumeurs étaient classées T2 dans 12 cas et T4 dans sept cas. Le type histologique le plus représenté était le carcinome canalaire infiltrant (CCI) [18 cas]. Le grade SBR II a été retrouvé dans 13 cas. Le taux d’envahissement ganglionnaire axillaire prouvé histologiquement était de 38 % (huit patients) et dans 14 % des cas plus de trois ganglions étaient envahis. L’effraction capsulaire n’a été retrouvée que dans quatre cas. Les récepteurs hormonaux étaient positifs dans 19 cas. La prise en charge thérapeutique a consisté en une chirurgie radicale dans 14 cas avec une chimiothérapie associée à une radiothérapie dans cinq cas, 66 % des patients ont reçu une hormonothérapie. Après un suivi moyen de 23 mois, trois malades ont développé des métastases et six malades sont encore vivants sans maladie. Conclusion Le cancer du sein chez l’homme est rare. Son diagnostic se fait souvent à un stade tardif. Son traitement est similaire à celui de la femme avec un retard diagnostique retentissant sur le pronostic.

Primary pericardial synovial sarcoma is extremely rare, with few published cases in the literature. We report the case of an adolescent aged 13 years with primary pericardial synovial sarcoma discovered during tamponade, confirmed by molecular biology, and for whom treatment combined radiosurgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. The particularity of the case we are reporting stems from the young age of our patient (13 years) as well as the duration of remission, which is quite long (21 months) prior to a superior mediastinal relapse compared to cases reported in the literature.

Purpose The cell-cycle checkpoint kinase 2 (CHEK2) is an important signal transducer of cellular responses to DNA damage, whose defects has been associated with increased risk for breast cancer. The CHEK2 1100delC mutation has been reported to confer a twofold increased risk of breast cancer among carriers. The frequency of the mutation varies among populations. The highest frequency has been described in Northern and Eastern European countries. However, the 1100delC mutation has been investigated in different case-control studies and none in Moroccan population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of this variant and determine its contribution to the development of breast cancer in sporadic cases and also in members of breast cancer families who tested negative or positive for a deleterious mutation in BRCA1/BRCA2. Methods In this case-control study we performed the CHEK2 1100delC mutation analysis by ASO-PCR in 134 breast cancer patients and 114 unaffected control individuals. Most of these families had several cases of breast cancer or ovarian cancer (or both). Results No CHEK2 1100delC mutations were detected in any of 134 individuals, including 59 women diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age (

Background Identification of specific mutations in cancer patients may lead to the discovery of genes, which can affect susceptibility and/or prognosis. It has previously been reported that mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are linked to breast cancer. Here, we evaluated the use of the High Resolution Melting (HRM) approach to screen for mutations in exon 11 of BRCA1 gene in Moroccan patients. Methods HRM analysis was used to screen exon 11 from 71 breast cancer patients in order to detect different variants. Conventional Sanger sequencing was used to confirm the presence of possible mutations. Distribution of different SNPs was determined by SNaPshot analysis software. Results In order to assess the efficacy of the HRM approach to screen for mutations, especially in diagnosis, we first used two samples with previously known mutations, “2924delA and 3398delC”. Indeed, these previously known sequence variants were detected by the HRM approach and yielded melting curves with atypical shape relative to wild-type control sequences. We then analyzed, 69 samples from breast cancer patients using the HRM method, and were able to detect two samples with atypical curves. Sequencing of the two samples, using the conventional Sanger approach, confirmed the presence of the same SNP (c.2612C > T) in both samples. Conclusions Our results strongly suggest that the HRM approach represents a reliable and highly sensitive method for mutation scanning, especially in diagnosis.