Cystic sebaceous tumors as marker lesions for the Muir-Torre syndrome - A histopathologic and molecular genetic study

Cystic sebaceous tumors (CST) are well-circumscribed, large; deeply located dermal sebaceous proliferations with a cystic growth pattern. We identifie d 12 CST in 8 of 19 patients with Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS). We interpret C ST as a tumor spectrum with clearly benign cystic sebaceous adenomas at one end and proliferative atypical cystic sebaceous tumors at the other. When examining these proliferative atypical tumors on morphologic criteria alone , the possibility of an evolving cystic sebaceous carcinoma cannot be exclu ded. We have not observed recurrences or metastases, indicating that these lesions are not highly malignant carcinomas. In 10 of 12 Gases of CST, we e xamined microsatellite instability (MSI). All 10 examined examples of CST f rom patients with MTS showed MSI characteristic for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), which is caused by autosomal dominant inherited DNA mismatch repair (MMR) defects. Mutational analysis of the MMR genes hM SH2 and hMLH1 had revealed different germline mutations in the hMSH2 gene i n three of six examined patients with MTS with CST. We then found four more CST in patients without a history of internal malignancy. All four CST exh ibited MSI. By mutational analysis in one of these patients we identified a truncating germline mutation in the MMR gene hMLH1. We conclude that CST i s a marker for the mismatch repair-deficient subtype of MTS with a high ris k for later internal malignancies. By recognizing CST, the histopathologist can suggest the great likelihood of MTS to the clinician.