Prevalence and Prognosis of Lynch Syndrome and Sporadic Mismatch Repair Deficiency in Endometrial Cancer

C.C.B. Post*, E. Stelloo, V.T.H.B.M. Smit, D. Ruano, C.M. Tops, L. Vermij, T.A. Rutten, I.M. Jurgenliemk-Schulz, L.C.H.W. Lutgens, J.J. Jobsen, R.A. Nout, E.J. Crosbie, M.E. Powell, L. Mileshkin, A. Leary, P. Bessette, H. Putter, S.M. de Boer, N. Horeweg, M. NielsenT. van Wezel, T. Bosse, C.L. Creutzberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Standard screening of endometrial cancer (EC) for Lynch syndrome (LS) is gaining traction; however, the prognostic impact of an underlying hereditary etiology is unknown. We established the prevalence, prognosis, and subsequent primary cancer incidence of patients with LS-associated EC in relation to sporadic mismatch repair deficient (MMRd)-EC in the large combined Post Operative Radiation Therapy in Endometrial Carcinoma-1, -2, and -3 trial cohort. Methods: After MMR-immunohistochemistry, MLH1-promoter methylation testing, and next-generation sequencing, tumors were classified into 3 groups according to the molecular cause of their MMRd-EC. Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox model were used for survival analysis. Competing risk analysis was used to estimate the subsequent cancer probability. All statistical tests were 2-sided. Results: Among the 1336 ECs, 410 (30.7%) were MMRd. A total of 380 (92.7%) were fully triaged: 275 (72.4%) were MLH1-hypermethylated MMRd-ECs; 36 (9.5%) LS MMRd-ECs, and 69 (18.2%) MMRd-ECs due to other causes. Limiting screening of EC patients to 60 years or younger or to 70 years or younger would have resulted in missing 18 (50.0%) and 6 (16.7%) LS diagnoses, respectively. Five-year recurrence-free survival was 91.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 83.1% to 100%; hazard ratio = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.16 to 1.24, P =.12) for LS, 95.5% (95% CI = 90.7% to 100%; hazard ratio = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.55, P =.003) for "other" vs 78.6% (95% CI = 73.8% to 83.7%) for MLH1-hypermethylated MMRd-EC. The probability of subsequent LS-associated cancer at 10 years was 11.6% (95% CI = 0.0% to 24.7%), 1.5% (95% CI = 0.0% to 4.3%), and 7.0% (95% CI = 3.0% to 10.9%) within the LS, "other," and MLH1-hypermethylated MMRd-EC groups, respectively. Conclusions: The LS prevalence in the Post Operative Radiation Therapy in Endometrial Carcinoma trial population was 2.8% and among MMRd-ECs was 9.5%. Patients with LS-associated ECs showed a trend towards better recurrence-free survival and higher risk for second cancers compared with patients with MLH1-hypermethylated MMRd-EC.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberdjab029
Pages (from-to)1212-1220
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of the National Cancer Institute
Volume113
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2021

Keywords

  • HEREDITARY
  • MLH1
  • MUTATIONS
  • GERMLINE
  • GENES
  • RISKS
  • WOMEN
  • MSH2

Cite this