Two cases of somatic STK11 mosaicism in Danish patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

Fam Cancer. 2021 Jan;20(1):55-59. doi: 10.1007/s10689-020-00191-4. Epub 2020 Jun 6.

Abstract

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is a hereditary polyposis syndrome characterized by hamartomatous Peutz-Jeghers polyps in the gastrointestinal tract, mucocutaneous pigmentations, and increased risk for intestinal and extraintestinal cancer. In more than two-third of patients it is possible to detect pathogenic variants in the serine/threonine kinase 11 (STK11) gene, but so far is knowledge about genetic causes in the remaining part of patients limited. Reports of STK11 mosaicism are rare but may be an explanation in some patients without initial findings of pathogenic variants in STK11. We report two Danish patients with STK11 mosaicism detected in blood when using Next-Generation Sequencing. This is only the sixth and seventh patient reported in the literature, and we compare phenotypes of the reported cases. The results indicate that STK11 mosaicism is more frequent than anticipated and highlight that mosaicism should be considered in patients with clinical suspicion of PJS or patients fulfilling the diagnostic criteria.

Keywords: Hereditary; Mosaicism; Mucocutaneous pigmentations; Next-Generation Sequencing; Peutz–Jeghers; STK11.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases
  • Adult
  • Denmark
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mosaicism*
  • Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome / genetics*
  • Phenotype
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • STK11 protein, human
  • AMP-Activated Protein Kinase Kinases