Safety of the Breast Cancer Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated Variant Carriers

Of the worldwide population, 0.5 to 1% of people are carrying a heterozygous mutation of Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) gene. While the clinical radiosensitivity of carriers of germline biallelic inactivation of the ATM gene is well described, controversies are observed for monoallelic carriers of ATM mutation. The aim of this study is to evaluate acute and late toxicities after adjuvant breast radiation therapy in ATM pathogenic variant carriers. This observational retrospective study showed an absence of significative acute and late toxicities after breast radiation therapy among patients carrying a heterozygous rare variant of the ATM gene. Single nucleotide polymorphism rs1801516 (G/A), described as associated with late subcutaneous fibrosis, was not associated with this late adverse event in our study. The Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) gene is implicated in DNA double-strand break repair. Controversies in clinical radiosensitivity remain known for monoallelic carriers of the ATM pathogenic variant (PV). An evaluation of the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1801516 (G-A) showed different results regarding late subcutaneous fibrosis after breast radiation therapy (RT). The main objective of this study was to evaluate acute and late toxicities in carriers of a rare ATM PV or predicted PV and in carriers of minor allele A of rs1801516 facing breast RT. Fifty women with localized breast cancer treated with adjuvant RT between 2000 and 2014 at Institut Curie were selected. Acute and late toxicities in carriers of a rare PV or predicted PV (n= 9), in noncarriers (n = 41) and in carriers of SNP rs1801516 (G-A) (n = 8), were examined. The median age at diagnosis was 53 years old and 82% of patients had an invasive ductal carcinoma and 84% were at clinical stage I-IIB. With a median follow-up of 13 years, no significant difference between carriers and noncarriers was found for acute toxicities (p > 0.05). The same results were observed for late toxicities without an effect from the rs1801516 genotype on toxicities. No significant difference in acute or late toxicities was observed between rare ATMvariant carriers and noncarriers after breast RT for localized breast cancer.