The Norwegian PMS2 founder mutation c.989-1G > T shows high penetrance of microsatellite instable cancers with normal immunohistochemistry.

Background: Using immunohistochemistry (IHC) to select cases for mismatch repair (MMR) genetic testing, we failed to identify a large kindred with the deleterious PMS2 mutation c.989-1G > T. The purpose of the study was to examine the sensitivity of IHC and microsatellite instability-analysis (MSI) to identify carriers of the mutation, and to estimate its penetrance and expressions.

Methods: All carriers and obligate carriers of the mutation were identified. All cancer diagnoses were confirmed. IHC and MSI-analysis were performed on available tumours. Penetrances of cancers included in the Amsterdam and the Bethesda Criteria, for MSI-high tumours and MSI-high and low tumours were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier algorithm.

Results: Probability for co-segregation of the mutation and cancers by chance was 0.000004. Fifty-six carriers or obligate carriers were identified. There was normal staining for PMS2 in 15/18 (83.3%) of tumours included in the AMS1/AMS2/Bethesda criteria. MSI-analysis showed that 15/21 (71.4%) of tumours were MSI-high and 4/21 (19.0%) were MSI-low. Penetrance at 70 years was 30.6% for AMS1 cancers (colorectal cancers), 42.8% for AMS2 cancers, 47.2% for Bethesda cancers, 55.6% for MSI-high and MSI-low cancers and 52.2% for MSI-high cancers.

Conclusions: The mutation met class 5 criteria for pathogenicity. IHC was insensitive in detecting tumours caused by the mutation. Penetrance of cancers that displayed MSI was 56% at 70 years. Besides colorectal cancers, the most frequent expressions were carcinoma of the endometrium and breast in females and stomach and prostate in males.