BRCA1 and cancer: In fact, different cancer syndromes are associated with an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, such as the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, due to mutations in the serine/threonine kinase 11 (STK11) gene, and the hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome due to mutations in BRCA1 DNA repair associated (BRCA1) and BRCA2 DNA repair associated (BRCA2) genes.