1.Founder BRCA1 mutations in Nepalese population
Anurag MEHTA ; Himanshi DIWAN ; Garima GUPTA ; Shrinidhi NATHANY ; Shalini AGNIHOTRI ; Surender DHANDA
Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine 2022;56(4):212-216
Background:
Founder mutation is a heritable genetic alteration observed with high frequency in a geographically and culturally isolated population where one or more ancestors becomes the forebearer of the altered gene. The current study reports two founder mutations in the BRCA1 gene in the Nepalese people.
Methods:
Germline BRCA testing in all surface epithelial ovarian cancers and the selected case of breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers has been the standard practice from 2016 to 2021. One thousand one hundred thirtythree probands were screened for germline BRCA variants by next generation sequencing. The variants were classified as per the American Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommendations. Pathogenic (class V) and likely pathogenic (class IV) were considered clinically relevant and utilized for cascade screening.
Results:
Nepalese population made up a subcohort of 5.12% (58/1,133) of probands tested for germline BRCA1/2 variants. Twenty-seven of these 58 tested harbored pathogenic genetic alterations in BRCA1/2 genes, with 23 being BRCA1 mutant. Sixteen of 23 BRCA1 mutant cases shared one common pathogenic mutation c.2214_2215insT (p.Lys739Ter) (NM_007294.4). Additionally, a second highly recurrent mutation in BRCA1 gene c.5068A>T (p.Lys1690Ter) (NM_007294.4) was noted in six patients from this population.
Conclusions
The overwhelming abundance of the above two variants in a geographically confined population confers these two genetic alterations a status of founder mutations amongst the people of Nepal. A more extensive population-based study to reaffirm these findings will help establish a dual site-specific germline testing similar to the “Multisite-3-assay” in Ashkenazi Jews as the primary screening tool, especially in a resource-constrained environment.
2.TTF1-positive SMARCA4/BRG1 deficient lung adenocarcinoma
Anurag MEHTA ; Himanshi DIWAN ; Divya BANSAL ; Manoj GUPTA
Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine 2022;56(1):53-56
SMARCA4/BRG1-deficient lung adenocarcinoma (SD-LUAD) is being recognized as a distinct subtype based on subtle differences in its clinical, morphological, and immunophenotypic attributes compared to other non–small cell lung carcinomas. We present here a case of SD-LUAD with curious thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF1) expression in a morphologically heterogenous lung adenocarcinoma. The better differentiated area showed preservation of TTF1 expression, and a poorly differentiated tumor had loss of TTF1 expression with universal BRG1 loss.