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Unraveling the genetic architecture of hepatoblastoma risk: birth defects and increased burden of germline damaging variants in gastrointestinal/renal cancer predisposition and DNA repair genes
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  • Talita Aguiar*,
  • Anne Caroline Teixeira,
  • Marília Scliar,
  • Juliana Sobral,
  • Renan B. Lemes,
  • Silvia Souza Costa,
  • Giovanna Tolezano,
  • Fernanda Francisco,
  • Israel Tojal,
  • Mônica Cypriano,
  • Silvia Toledo,
  • Eugênia Valadares,
  • Raquel Pinto,
  • Osvaldo Artigalás,
  • Joaquim Caetano de Aguirre Neto,
  • Estela Novak,
  • Lilian Maria Cristofani,
  • Sofia Sugayama,
  • Vicente Odone,
  • Isabela Werneck,
  • Cecilia da Costa,
  • Carla Rosenberg,
  • Ana Krepischi
Talita Aguiar*
University of Sao Paulo

Corresponding Author:marquesaguiar@gmail.com

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Anne Caroline Teixeira
Universidade de Sao Paulo Instituto de Biociencias
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Marília Scliar
University of São Paulo
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Juliana Sobral
Institute of Biosciences, University of Sao Paulo
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Renan B. Lemes
University of Sao Paulo
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Silvia Souza Costa
Universidade de Sao Paulo Instituto de Biociencias
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Giovanna Tolezano
University of Sao Paulo Institute of Biosciences Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology
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Fernanda Francisco
ACCamargo Cancer Center
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Israel Tojal
ACCamargo Cancer Center
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Mônica Cypriano
GRAACC
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Silvia Toledo
Genetics Laboratory, Pediatric Oncology Institute GRAACC/UNIFESP
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Eugênia Valadares
Benjamim Guimarães Foundation
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Raquel Pinto
Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição
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Osvaldo Artigalás
Grupo Hospitalar Conceição
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Joaquim Caetano de Aguirre Neto
Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte
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Estela Novak
Fundação Pró-Sangue, Hemocentro de São Paulo
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Lilian Maria Cristofani
Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Medicina
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Sofia Sugayama
Medical School
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Vicente Odone
Sao Paulo University Medical School
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Isabela Werneck
Rede D’OR-São Luiz
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Cecilia da Costa
Fundação Antônio Prudente
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Carla Rosenberg
Institute of Biosciences, University of Sao Paulo
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Ana Krepischi
Universidade de Sao Paulo Instituto de Biociencias
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Abstract

The ultrarare hepatoblastoma is the most common pediatric liver cancer. HB risk is related to a few rare syndromes, and the molecular bases remain elusive for most cases. We investigated the burden of rare damaging germline variants in 30 Brazilian patients with HB. A high frequency of prematurity (20%) and birth defects (37%), especially craniofacial (17%, including craniosynostosis) and kidney (7%) anomalies, was observed. Pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants mapped to 10 cancer predisposition genes (APC, CHEK2, DROSHA, ERCC5, FAH, MSH2, MUTYH, RPS19, TGFBR2 and VHL,) were detected in 33% of the patients, only 40% of them with a family history of cancer. These findings showed a predominance of CPGs with a known link to gastrointestinal/colorectal and renal cancer risk. A remarkable feature was an enrichment of rare damaging variants affecting different classes of DNA repair genes, particularly those known as Fanconi anemia genes. Moreover, several damaging rare variants mapped to genes impacting liver functions were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive assessment of rare germline variants in HB patients, contributing to elucidating the genetic architecture of HB risk.
12 Apr 2022Published in Frontiers in Genetics volume 13. 10.3389/fgene.2022.858396