Introduction
The purpose of the present study was to characterise patients with breast cancer (BC) and
NOD2-
mutation (age ≥ 50 years) according to their clinicopathological factors or family history. Patients aged ≥ 50 years were compared with the control group and with
NOD2-
mutation carriers aged < 50 years.
Material and methods
Prognostic factors were analysed in patients with BC with confirmed
NOD2
c.3016_3017insC (
n
= 150) mutations. The control group was selected from patients with BC without mutations (
n
= 376).
Results
There were significant differences between
NOD2
-mutation carriers and the control group aged ≥ 50 years, according to HER2 overexpression (
p
= 0.0001), ER (–) (
p
= 0.007), PR (–) (
p
= 0.003), T1–T2 (
p
= 0.011), and G3
(p
= 0.036). Similarly, significant differences were observed between
NOD2
-mutation carriers and the control group aged < 50 years, according to HER2 overexpression (
p
= 0.0001), ER (–) (
p
= 0.049), and N (+) (
p
= 0.038). In patients aged ≥ 50 years, family history of cancer, including BC, was observed more often in
NOD2
-mutation carriers compared with the control group of patients (OR = 1.66;
p
= 0.072, for BC in family history: OR = 2.65;
p
= 0.002).
NOD2
-mutation carriers aged ≥ 50 years had significantly less frequent G3 (
p
= 0.004) and HER2 overexpression (
p
= 0.043) compared with patients with
NOD2
mutation aged < 50 years.
Conclusions
The presence of the
NOD2
mutation is not only characteristic of younger patients but also in patients > 50 years of age. In
NOD2
-mutation carriers aged ≥ 50 years, the presence of larger tumour size, G3, or HER2 overexpression were lower compared with younger patients with
NOD2
mutation.