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Long Survival and Prolonged Remission after Surgery and Chemotherapy in a Metastatic Mismatch Repair Deficient Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma with MLH1/PMS2 Immunodeficiency and Minimal Microsatellite Shift

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Abstract

Pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) are rare and very aggressive neoplasms with dismal prognosis, especially when metastatic or with negative prognostic factors, such as vascular invasion. To the best of our knowledge, no case of pancreatic NEC with mismatch repair deficiency has been reported to date. We describe a 62-year-old patient who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for a NEC located in the pancreatic head, with peripancreatic lymph node metastases. Tumor necrosis was prominent and the Ki67 proliferative index was 60%. One year after the diagnosis, the patient experienced recurrence with a left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis, which was surgically removed, followed by standard cisplatin-etoposide chemotherapy. Neoplastic cells showed combined loss of expression of MLH1 and PMS2 in both primary tumor and lymph node metastasis. Microsatellite instability (MSI) test using a mononucleotide repeats pentaplex PCR (BAT-25, BAT-26, NR-21, NR-22, and NR-24) revealed minimal mononucleotide shifts showing deletion of less than 3 bp at NR-21, BAT-26, NR-24, and NR-22 loci. MLH1 methylation analysis revealed absence of the gene promoter methylation. BRAF and KRAS mutations were not detected. In gut, NECs’ mismatch repair deficiency phenotype has been reported in about 10% of cases, and it represents an independent factor of more favorable outcome. Likewise, our patient is currently alive with a follow-up of more than 12 years after pancreaticoduodenectomy, by itself an unexpected finding for such an aggressive neoplasm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anatomic Pathology Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, and IRCCS San Matteo Hospital, Via Carlo Forlanini 16, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Alessandro Vanoli, Giuseppe Neri, Alessandra Viglio & Enrico Solcia

  2. Internal Medicine, SS Annunziata Hospital-ASST Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Vittorio Perfetti

  3. Anatomic Pathology Unit, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy

    Daniela Furlan & Fausto Sessa

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital and University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Michele Martino & Antonio Di Sabatino

  5. Institute of Pathology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Stefano La Rosa

Authors
  1. Alessandro Vanoli
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  2. Vittorio Perfetti
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  3. Daniela Furlan
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  4. Giuseppe Neri
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  5. Alessandra Viglio
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  6. Fausto Sessa
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  7. Michele Martino
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  8. Antonio Di Sabatino
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  9. Enrico Solcia
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  10. Stefano La Rosa
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Contributions

AVa, VP, GN, ES, and SLR: study design, data collection, and drafting. AVi, MM, and AdS: data collection. DF and FS: molecular analysis. All Authors approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alessandro Vanoli.

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Vanoli, A., Perfetti, V., Furlan, D. et al. Long Survival and Prolonged Remission after Surgery and Chemotherapy in a Metastatic Mismatch Repair Deficient Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma with MLH1/PMS2 Immunodeficiency and Minimal Microsatellite Shift. Endocr Pathol 31, 411–417 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-020-09622-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-020-09622-5

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