Pancreatic cancer treatment in people with BRCA mutations
About 10% of pancreatic cancer is caused by an inherited mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Other genetic mutations have been linked to increased risk of pancreatic cancer. These include:
- Genes associated with Lynch Syndrome
- Li Fraumeni Syndrome/TP53
- Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (STK11)
- PALB2
Knowing if you have an inherited mutation is increasingly important for pancreatic cancer patients when making treatment decisions, because BRCA-associated cancers may respond better to certain treatments, including a treatment regimen that includes a type of chemotherapy known as platinum. Oxaliplatin is a platinum-containing drug used in some pancreatic cancer regimens.
Knowing whether or not you have a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 can affect the decision to use oxaliplatin or other platinum drug in the initial chemotherapy regimen to treat your pancreatic cancer. Some clinical trials are using PARP inhibitors and other new therapies to treat patients with hereditary pancreatic cancer.
Updated 01/06/2018
