A case report of Muir-Torre syndrome in a woman with breast cancer and MSI-Low skin squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

BackgroundThe tumor spectrum in the Lynch syndrome is well defined, comprising an increased risk of developing colonic and extracolonic malignancies. Muir-Torre syndrome is a variant with a higher risk of skin disease. Patients have been described carrying mutations in the mismatch repair genes and presenting tumors with unusual histology or affected organ not part of the Lynch syndrome spectrum. Hence, the real link between Lynch syndrome, or Muir-Torre syndrome, and these tumors remains difficult to assess.Case presentationWe present the case of a 45-year-old-woman, diagnosed with breast cancer at 39 years of age and skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at 41 years of age, without personal history of colorectal cancer. The microsatellite instability analysis performed on the skin SCC showed a low-level of microsatellite instability (MSI-Low). The immunohistochemical expression analysis of the four DNA mismatch repair proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2 showed a partial loss of the expression of MSH2 and MSH6 proteins. Germline deletion was found in MSH2 gene (c.1277-? _1661 + ?del), exon 8 to 10. Then, at 45 years of age, she presented hyperplastic polyps of the colon and a sebaceous adenoma.ConclusionSquamous cell carcinomas have been described in Lynch syndrome and Muir-Torre syndrome in two studies and two case reports. This new case further supports a possible relationship between Lynch syndrome and squamous cell carcinoma.