Genes (Mar 2021)

Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasm of the Pancreas and Abdominal Desmoid Tumor in a Patient Carrying Two Different <i>BRCA2</i> Germline Mutations: New Horizons from Tumor Molecular Profiling

  • Andrea Mafficini,
  • Rita T. Lawlor,
  • Claudio Ghimenton,
  • Davide Antonello,
  • Cinzia Cantù,
  • Gaetano Paolino,
  • Alessia Nottegar,
  • Maria L. Piredda,
  • Roberto Salvia,
  • Michele Milella,
  • Angelo P. Dei Tos,
  • Matteo Fassan,
  • Aldo Scarpa,
  • Claudio Luchini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/genes12040481
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 4
p. 481

Abstract

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This case report describes the history of a 41 year-old woman with a solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas and a metachronous abdominal desmoid tumor (DT) that occurred two years after the SPN surgical resection. At next-generation sequencing of 174 cancer-related genes, both neoplasms harbored a CTNNB1 somatic mutation which was different in each tumor. Moreover, two BRCA2 pathogenic mutations were found in both tumors, confirmed as germline by the sequencing of normal tissue. The BRCA2 mutations were c.631G>A, resulting in the amino-acid change p.V211I, and c.7008-2A>T, causing a splice acceptor site loss. However, as the two neoplasms showed neither loss of heterozygosity nor somatic mutation in the second BRCA2 allele, they cannot be considered as BRCA-dependent tumors. Nevertheless, this study highlights the important opportunities opened by extensive tumor molecular profiling. In this particular case, it permitted the detection of BRCA2-germline mutations, essential for addressing the necessary BRCA-related genetic counseling, surveillance, and screening for the patient and her family.

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