Mucinous Carcinoma of the Colon in a 16-Year-Old Turkish Boy with Bloom Syndrome: Cytogenetic, Histopathologic, TP53 Gene and Protein Expression Studies

Abstract

A 17-year-old Turkish boy with Bloom syndrome (BS) developed mucinous carcinoma of the transverse colon. He was followed from 2 to 17 years of age. Increased sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) were observed, and he was diagnosed with BS at the age of 7. Sun-sensitive skin lesions were examined by skin biopsy, and histopathological studies of these lesions were done. During the follow-up period, an intraabdominal mass at the transverse colon was found, and mucinous carcinoma of colon was diagnosed at the age of 16. We examined TP53 protein expression from paraffin-embedded colon tissue of the patient with an immunohistochemical method. Polymerase chain reaction products of exons 4–9 of the TP53 gene were examined by SSCP. No evidence of overexpression of TP53 protein or mutations of the TP53 gene was observed. The patient in this report is the first case with a mucinous carcinoma of colon diagnosed at an early age in the Bloom Syndrome Registry. Based on our results, carcinoma of the colon in BS patient may occur earlier than 35 years of age and the TP53 gene may not be directly related to carcinoma in Bloom syndrome.