Jejunal Cancer with WRN Mutation Identified from Next-Generation Sequencing: A Case Study and Minireview

Abstract

Small bowel cancer is a rare, gastrointestinal cancer originating from the small intestines. Carcinogenesis in the jejunum, the middle segment of the small intestines, occurs less commonly than in the duodenum and ileum. Despite the increasing incidences globally, the cancer is still poorly understood, which includes lack of pathological understanding and etiological reasoning, as it seems to exhibit both similarities and differences with other types of cancers. A 76-year-old Asian man was presented with abdominal pain, which was later attributed to an adenocarcinoma in the jejunum. Initial immunoreactive staining results found no connections to colorectal cancer. The microsatellite instability test was further examined by immunohistochemistry which revealed them to be wild-type. From our exome-capture sequencing results, mutations of WRN may be important as they represent the only genetic defect in this jejunal cancer. The patient has since undergone surgical resection of his cancer and is currently being treated with chemotherapy. The pathology, genomic markers, and treatments are described along with literature review.