Lynch syndrome–associated colorectal carcinoma: frequent involvement of the left colon and rectum and late-onset presentation supports a universal screening approach

Abstract

The optimal strategy for screening patients with colorectal carcinoma for Lynch syndrome (LS) is a subject of continued debate in the literature with some advocating universal screening while others arguing for selective screening. We evaluated 1292 colorectal carcinomas for DNA mismatch repair protein abnormalities and identified 150 (11.6%) tumors demonstrating high-levels of microsatellite instability (MSI-H). MSI-H colorectal carcinomas were divided into sporadic (112/1292, 8.7%) and LS/probable LS-associated (38/1292, 2.9%) groups based on BRAF V600E mutation, MLH1 promoter hypermethylation, cancer history, and germline mismatch repair gene mutation. All MSI-H colorectal carcinomas were analyzed for grade, location, and tumor histology. The utility of the revised Bethesda guidelines and published predictive pathology models for MSI-H colorectal carcinomas (PREDICT and MSPath) were evaluated. Left-sided MSI-H colorectal carcinomas were more frequently associated with LS compared with right-sided MSI-H colorectal carcinomas (12/21, 57% versus 26/129, 20%, P = .0008). There was no significant difference in histology between sporadic MSI-H and LS/probable LS-associated colorectal carcinomas except for a slightly higher proportion of sporadic MSI-H tumors demonstrating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (81% versus 61%, P = .015). Neither pathology predictive model identified all LS-associated colorectal carcinomas (PREDICT: 33/38, 87%; MSPath: 35/38, 92%). 12/117 (10%) MSI-H colorectal carcinomas identified in patients >60 years were LS/probable LS-associated. Our results demonstrate that models of predicting MSI-H fail to identify LS-associated colorectal carcinoma given their reliance on right-sided location. A significant proportion (32%) of LS-associated colorectal carcinoma is identified in patients >60 years. Finally, our results demonstrate similar morphologic features between LS-associated and sporadic MSI-H colorectal carcinomas.