Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD) is caused by germline pathogenic variants in both alleles of a mismatch repair gene. Patients have an exceptionally high risk of numerous pediatric malignancies and benefit from surveillance and adjusted treatment. The diversity of its manifestation, and ambiguous genotyping results, particularly from PMS2, can complicate diagnosis and preclude timely patient management. Assessment of low‐level microsatellite instability in nonneoplastic tissues can detect CMMRD, but current techniques are laborious or of limited sensitivity. Here, we present a simple, scalable CMMRD diagnostic assay. It uses sequencing and molecular barcodes to detect low‐frequency microsatellite variants in peripheral blood leukocytes and classifies samples using variant frequencies. We tested 30 samples from 26 genetically‐confirmed CMMRD patients, and samples from 94 controls and 40 Lynch syndrome patients. All samples were correctly classified, except one from a CMMRD patient recovering from aplasia. However, additional samples from this same patient tested positive for CMMRD. The assay also confirmed CMMRD in six suspected patients. The assay is suitable for both rapid CMMRD diagnosis within clinical decision windows and scalable screening of at‐risk populations. Its deployment will improve patient care, and better define the prevalence and phenotype of this likely underreported cancer syndrome.
DICER1 mutations (somatic or germline) are associated with a variety of uncommon neoplasms including cervical and genitourinary embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS). We report a primary ovarian and 2 primary fallopian tube ERMS occurring in 60-, 13-, and 14-year-olds, respectively. The 3 neoplasms exhibited a similar morphologic appearance being polypoid and containing edematous hypocellular areas and hypercellular foci composed of small cells with scant cytoplasm exhibiting rhabdomyoblastic differentiation (desmin, myogenin, myoD1 positive). There was cellular cartilage in all cases and extensive foci of anaplasia, eosinophilic globules, and bone/osteoid in 1 case each. All 3 neoplasms exhibited DICER1 mutations; in 1 of the tubal cases, the patient had a germline mutation and in the other 2 cases, the DICER1 mutations were somatic. Accompanying DICER1 “second hits” were identified in all cases. In 2 of the neoplasms, SALL4-positive glandular structures were present which we speculate may represent an unusual primitive “metaplastic” phenomenon. Our study adds to the literature on ERMS at unusual sites associated with DICER1 mutations. ERMS arising at such sites, especially when they contain cartilage or bone/osteoid, are especially likely to be associated with DICER1 mutations. Pathologists should be aware of this as these may be the sentinel neoplasms in patients with DICER1 syndrome and confirming a germline mutation can facilitate the screening of the individual and affected family members for other neoplasms which occur in this syndrome.
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