Pleuropulmonary blastoma: The causative role of germ-line DICER1 mutations.

Abstract

10024 Background: Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare, aggressive childhood lung cancer that is often the first manifestation of the PPB-DICER1 familial tumor predisposition which includes other benign and malignant conditions. The initial genetic mutation is inherited by a germ-line loss of function of DICER1 gene which was discovered by Hill et al. It is proposed that loss of DICER1 expression alters miRNA regulation of key regulatory cellular mechanisms which promote tumor growth. PPB can progress from the purely cystic, curable Type I to a high-grade Type III having a dismal prognosis. We sought to determine the frequency of DICER1mutation in the largest cohort of PPB patients to date. Methods: We obtained germ-line DNA from saliva or blood samples from 113 PPB patients collected from 2005-2012. DNA was extracted using the Maxwell 16 Research System (Promega Corporation, Madison WI). Sample quality and quantity was checked using the Nanodrop 2000 (Thermo Scientific, Wilmington, DE). Sequencing was performed using the Sanger sequencer. For a subset of cases we used targeted sequencing services or full gene sequence analysis (Ambry Genetics, Aliso Viejo, CA). Results: Seventy-four (65.5%) PPB patients were found to have deleterious DICER1germ-line mutations. The most common mutation type found was small insertion/deletions. These 74 samples were composed of 7 (9.5%)Type Ir PPBs, 22 (29.7%)Type I PPBs, 24 (32.4%) Type II PPBs, and 21 (28.4%)Type III PPBs. The following Table shows a summary of mutation types identified. Conclusions: Our results confirm that DICER1 germline mutations are the most common genetic alterations in PPB making it critical for genetic testing to be performed at diagnosis. Additionally, this underscores the need for important correlative studies to describe the genotype-phenotype relationship in order for appropriate screening guidelines to be developed and implemented to allow for early detection. While a majority of cases are explained by germline DICER1 mutations using current sequencing methods, further investigation is warranted to elucidate other possible mechanisms in the development of PPB. [Table: see text]