Incidental finding of MEN-1 syndrome during staging and follow-up of breast carcinoma

Abstract

Type 1 multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN-1) syndrome is an autosomal dominant disease, associated with germline mutations in the MEN-1 tumour suppressor gene (encoding the menin protein). Recent studies, through a better characterisation of the functions of the menin protein, have started to demonstrate how changes in this protein may be related to breast cancer. We present the case of a patient whose diagnosis of MEN-1 syndrome was made during treatment for a breast tumour—this diagnosis was obtained after finding multiple neoplastic lesions that fitted the MEN-1 syndrome spectrum, during the initial staging and subsequent follow-up of a breast tumour. In line with the growing evidence that links MEN-1 syndrome to breast cancer tumorigenesis, this case report highlights the following question: should we start screening this subset of patients earlier for breast cancer?

Beyond the “3 Ps”: A critical appraisal of the non-endocrine manifestations of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1

“…Most recently, it has been proposed that the risk of breast carcinoma is heightened in females with MEN1. To date, there have been approximately 90 or fewer cases of breast carcinoma in women with MEN1 reported in the literature (24,43,44,51,72,81,87,95,99,(137)(138)(139)(140)(141)(142)(143)(144)(145)(146)(147)(148)(149)(150); breast cancer has not yet been reported in a man with MEN1. The exact number of cases is difficult to determine due to the likely overlap of cases in the published literature and the lack of specific case numbers in one publication.…”