Genetic testing for inherited colorectal cancer and polyposis, 2021 revision: a technical standard of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG)

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer and 30% of all cases of CRC are believed to have a familial component and up to one-third of these (10%) are hereditary. Pathogenic germline variants in multiple genes have been associated with predisposition to hereditary CRC or polyposis. Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common hereditary CRC syndrome, caused by variants in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 and is inherited in a dominant manner. Heritable conditions associated with colonic polyposis include familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) associated with APC pathogenic variants, MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) caused by biallelic MUTYH pathogenic variants, and polymerase proofreading-associated polyposis (PPAP) caused by POLE or POLD1 pathogenic variants. Given the overlapping phenotypes of the cancer syndromes along with the limited sensitivity of using clinical criteria alone, a multigene panel testing approach to diagnose these conditions using next-generation sequencing (NGS) is effective and efficient. This technical standard is not recommended for use in the clinic for patient evaluation. Please refer to National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) clinical practice guidelines to determine an appropriate testing strategy and guide medical screening and management. This 2021 edition of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) technical standard supersedes the 2013 edition on this topic.