Since it had been found that some breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility alleles, e.g. in BRCA2 (the FANCD1 gene), PALB2 (the FANCN gene) or RAD51C (the FANCO gene), cause Fanconi Anemia (FA) in the homozygous state, it has been reasonable to assess further FA genes for their role in breast and ovarian cancer. Here, PALB2 is linked to Friedreich ataxia.