BRCA1 and breast carcinoma: However, considering the activity of PARP inhibitors previously reported in patients with ovarian cancer harbouring somatic and germline mutations [5, 37, 38], and the similar biology of somatic and germline BRCA mutations in breast cancer we reported, breast cancer patients with somatic mutations may be expected to benefit from PARP inhibitor treatment and a recent case report has indeed shown significant clinical activity of olaparib in a TNBC patient with a somatic BRCA1 mutation .