Because some breast cancers without mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are reported to respond to these treatments (Forster et al., 2011) it will be interesting to explore whether mutational patterns characteristic of BRCA1 and BRCA2 null cancers are better predictors of response to these therapies than the presence of mutations in the two genes. The gene discussed is BRCA1; the disease is breast carcinoma.