Author's response to reviews Title: Selecting for BRCA1 testing using a combination of homogeneous selection criteria and immunohistochemical characteristics of breast cancers Authors:

In the results the number 93 patients is used, must this be 94? The overall number of the evaluated cases is 93 and not 94 as previously written in the abstract Abbreviations are used in the abstract without explanation. In the abstract, to the abbreviations without explanation, we have added the explanations. Do the authors mean: primary breast tumors from breast cancer families defined by specific eligibility criteria? If so, what criteria were used? The eligibility criteria used for the recruitment of the cases to submit to BRCA1 and BRCA2 molecular analysis are reported in Veronesi et al 2005: “Familial breast cancer: characteristics and outcome of BRCA 1-2 positive negative and cases”, (BMC Cancer 2005 5:70). This article is quoted in the methods as bibliographical source [13]. Of the selected cases with this modality have been considered only the female index cases affected with primary breast cancer, excluding the male breast cancer and the ovarian cancer cases. In the methods we have explicitated better, as requested by the reviewer, the used criteria. In the abstract, the sentence reported is now: “The primary breast tumours from 93 FBCs defined by specific eligibility criteria, based on personal and familial tumour history, have been evaluated by Allred’s method”