BRCA1 and breast cancer: Therefore, family history of breast cancer in AJ men may be a surrogate for founder mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, whereas family history of colorectal cancer potentially serves as a surrogate for founder mutations in MSH2 and MSH6. Taken together, family history of breast or colorectal cancer in Ashkenazi Jews may mark a population with high risk of pancreatic cancer mediated through genetic alterations in these genes or others.