Colon and endometrial cancers with mismatch repair deficiency can arise from somatic, rather than germline, mutations.

Patients with Lynch syndrome carry germline mutations in single alleles of genes encoding the mismatch repair (MMR) proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2; when the second allele becomes mutated, cancer can develop. Increased screening for Lynch syndrome has identified patients with tumors that have deficiency in MMR, but no germline mutations in genes encoding MMR proteins. We investigated whether tumors with deficient MMR had acquired somatic mutations in patients without germline mutations in MMR genes using next-generation sequencing. We analyzed blood and tumor samples from 32 patients with colorectal or endometrial cancer who participated in Lynch syndrome screening studies in Ohio and were found to have tumors with MMR deficiency (based on microsatellite instability and/or absence of MMR proteins in immunohistochemical analysis, without hypermethylation of MLH1), but no germline mutations in MMR genes. Tumor DNA was sequenced for MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, EPCAM, POLE, and POLD1 with ColoSeq and mutation frequencies were established. Twenty-two of 32 patients (69%) were found to have 2 somatic (tumor) mutations in MMR genes encoding proteins that were lost from tumor samples, based on immunohistochemistry. Of the 10 remaining tumors 3 had one somatic mutation in a MMR gene, with possible loss of heterozygosity that could lead to MMR deficiency, 6 were found to be false-positive results (19%), and 1 had only one mutation in a MMR gene and remained unexplained. All of the tumors found to have somatic MMR mutations were of the hypermutated phenotype (>12 mutations/megabase); 6 had mutation frequencies >200/megabase, and 5 of these had somatic mutations in POLE, which encodes a DNA polymerase. Some patients are found to have tumors with MMR defects during screening for Lynch syndrome, yet have no identifiable germline mutations in MMR genes. We found that almost 70% of these patients acquire somatic mutations in MMR genes, leading to a hypermutated phenotype of tumor cells. Patients with colon or endometrial cancers with MMR deficiency not explained by germline mutations might undergo analysis for tumor mutations in MMR genes to guide future surveillance guidelines.

Haraldsdottir S ，Hampel H ，Tomsic J ，Frankel WL ，Pearlman R ，de la Chapelle A ，Pritchard CC ... -  《-》

Screening for germline mutations of MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 genes in Slovenian colorectal cancer patients: implications for a population specific detection strategy of Lynch syndrome.

Berginc G ，Bracko M ，Ravnik-Glavac M ，Glavac D ... -  《-》

Combined Microsatellite Instability, MLH1 Methylation Analysis, and Immunohistochemistry for Lynch Syndrome Screening in Endometrial Cancers From GOG210: An NRG Oncology and Gynecologic Oncology Group Study.

The best screening practice for Lynch syndrome (LS) in endometrial cancer (EC) remains unknown. We sought to determine whether tumor microsatellite instability (MSI) typing along with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and MLH1 methylation analysis can help identify women with LS. ECs from GOG210 patients were assessed for MSI, MLH1 methylation, and mismatch repair (MMR) protein expression. Each tumor was classified as having normal MMR, defective MMR associated with MLH1 methylation, or probable MMR mutation (ie, defective MMR but no methylation). Cancer family history and demographic and clinical features were compared for the three groups. Lynch mutation testing was performed for a subset of women. Analysis of 1,002 ECs suggested possible MMR mutation in 11.8% of tumors. The number of patients with a family history suggestive of LS was highest among women whose tumors were classified as probable MMR mutation (P = .001). Lynch mutations were identified in 41% of patient cases classified as probable mutation (21 of 51 tested). One of the MSH6 Lynch mutations was identified in a patient whose tumor had intact MSH6 expression. Age at diagnosis was younger for mutation carriers than noncarriers (54.3 v 62.3 years; P < .01), with five carriers diagnosed at age > 60 years. Combined MSI, methylation, and IHC analysis may prove useful in Lynch screening in EC. Twenty-four percent of mutation carriers presented with ECs at age > 60 years, and one carrier had an MSI-positive tumor with no IHC defect. Restricting Lynch testing to women diagnosed at age < 60 years or to women with IHC defects could result in missing a substantial fraction of genetic disease.

Goodfellow PJ ，Billingsley CC ，Lankes HA ，Ali S ，Cohn DE ，Broaddus RJ ，Ramirez N ，Pritchard CC ，Hampel H ，Chassen AS ，Simmons LV ，Schmidt AP ，Gao F ，Brinton LA ，Backes F ，Landrum LM ，Geller MA ，DiSilvestro PA ，Pearl ML ，Lele SB ，Powell MA ，Zaino RJ ，Mutch D ... -  《-》

Tumor mismatch repair immunohistochemistry and DNA MLH1 methylation testing of patients with endometrial cancer diagnosed at age younger than 60 years optimizes triage for population-level germline mismatch repair gene mutation testing.

Buchanan DD ，Tan YY ，Walsh MD ，Clendenning M ，Metcalf AM ，Ferguson K ，Arnold ST ，Thompson BA ，Lose FA ，Parsons MT ，Walters RJ ，Pearson SA ，Cummings M ，Oehler MK ，Blomfield PB ，Quinn MA ，Kirk JA ，Stewart CJ ，Obermair A ，Young JP ，Webb PM ，Spurdle AB ... -  《-》

Lynch syndrome (hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer) diagnostics.

Lagerstedt Robinson K ，Liu T ，Vandrovcova J ，Halvarsson B ，Clendenning M ，Frebourg T ，Papadopoulos N ，Kinzler KW ，Vogelstein B ，Peltomäki P ，Kolodner RD ，Nilbert M ，Lindblom A ... -  《-》