Hereditary gastrointestinal stromal tumors sharing the KIT Exon 17 germline mutation p.Asp820Tyr develop through different cytogenetic progression pathways.

Hereditary gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder originated by germline mutations in the KIT or PDGFRA genes. We report the third family with hereditary predisposition to GIST due to the KIT Exon 17 germline mutation p.Asp820Tyr and characterize the cytogenetic progression pathways followed by different GIST sharing the same primary genetic event, using a combination of chromosome banding, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses. The missense mutation p.Asp820Tyr was detected in the proband's rectal and gastric GIST, as well as in his aunt's GIST epiplon metastasis. The mutation p.Asp820Tyr was subsequently also found in the proband's peripheral blood DNA, as well as in that of 4 of 10 relatives thus far analyzed. CGH analysis revealed loss of 14q and 15q in the proband's gastric lesion, whereas FISH analysis of the proband's rectal GIST did not detect loss of 14q and 15q, but instead loss of 4q and 22q and gain of 20q, indicating that the two tumors were independent GIST. Chromosome banding and CGH analyses of the aunt's GIST epiplon metastasis revealed multiple cytogenetic alterations, including 1p loss, but none in common with the two proband's GIST. We conclude that, although the patients share the same KIT Exon 17 germline mutation, the multiple GIST analyzed followed different pathogenetic progression pathways, each of which did not significantly differ from what has been described in sporadic GIST.