This suggests that inactivation of the PALB2 gene may cause similar biological and phenotypic changes as inactivation of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes; the latter is responsible for a fraction of breast and ovarian cancers, and a dysfunction of BRCA2 alone - for the Fanconi anemia (FA) syndrome. The gene discussed is BRCA1; the disease is ovarian carcinoma.