Frontiers in Genetics (Aug 2023)

Combined germline and tumor mutation signature testing identifies new families with NTHL1 tumor syndrome

  • Carla Pinto,
  • Carla Pinto,
  • Carla Pinto,
  • Joana Guerra,
  • Joana Guerra,
  • Manuela Pinheiro,
  • Carla Escudeiro,
  • Carla Escudeiro,
  • Catarina Santos,
  • Catarina Santos,
  • Pedro Pinto,
  • Miguel Porto,
  • Carla Bartosch,
  • Carla Bartosch,
  • João Silva,
  • João Silva,
  • Ana Peixoto,
  • Ana Peixoto,
  • Manuel R. Teixeira,
  • Manuel R. Teixeira,
  • Manuel R. Teixeira

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1254908
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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NTHL1 tumor syndrome is an autosomal recessive rare disease caused by biallelic inactivating variants in the NTHL1 gene and which presents a broad tumor spectrum. To contribute to the characterization of the phenotype of this syndrome, we studied 467 index patients by KASP assay or next-generation sequencing, including 228 patients with colorectal polyposis and 239 patients with familial/personal history of multiple tumors (excluding multiple breast/ovarian/polyposis). Three NTHL1 tumor syndrome families were identified in the group of patients with polyposis and none in patients with familial/personal history of multiple tumors. Altogether, we identified nine affected patients with polyposis (two of them diagnosed after initiating colorectal cancer surveillance) with biallelic pathogenic or likely pathogenic NTHL1 variants, as well as two index patients with one pathogenic or likely pathogenic NTHL1 variant in concomitance with a missense variant of uncertain significance. Here we identified a novel inframe deletion classified as likely pathogenic using the ACMG criteria, supported also by tumor mutational signature analysis. Our findings indicate that the NTHL1 tumor syndrome is a multi-tumor syndrome strongly associated with polyposis and not with multiple tumors without polyposis.

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