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The molecular basis of colorectal cancer (CRC) can guide patient prognosis and therapy. In Brazil, knowledge on the CRC mutation landscape is limited. Here, we investigated the mutation profile of 150 cancer-related genes by next-generation sequencing and associated with microsatellite instability (MSI) and genetic ancestry in a series of 91 Brazilian CRC patients. Driver mutations were found in the APC (71.4%), TP53 (56.0%), KRAS (52.7%), PIK3CA (15.4%) and FBXW7 (10.9%) genes. Overall, genes in the MAPK/ERK, PIK3/AKT, NOTCH and receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathways were mutated in 68.0%, 23.1%, 16.5%, and 15.3% of patients, respectively. MSI was found in 13.3% of tumors, most of which were proximal (52.4%, P< 0.001) and had a high mutation burden. European genetic ancestry was predominant (median of 83.1%), followed by Native American (4.1%), Asian (3.4%) and African (3.2%). NF1 and BRAF mutations were associated with African ancestry, while TP53 and PIK3CA mutations were inversely correlated with Native American ancestry. Our study suggests that Brazilian CRC patients exhibit a mutation profile similar to other populations and identify the most frequently mutated genes, which could be useful in future target therapies and molecular cancer screening strategies.

Background: The goal of this study was to screen point mutations and deletions in APC and MUTYH genes in patients suspected of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) in a Brazilian cohort., Methods: We used high-resolution melting, Sanger direct sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe association (MLPA) assays to identify point mutations, and large genomic variations within the coding regions of APC and MUTYH genes., Results: We identified 19 causative mutations in 40 Brazilian patients from 20 different families. Four novel mutations were identified in the APC gene and two in the MUTYH gene. We also found a high intra- and inter-familial diversity regarding extracolonic manifestations, and gastric polyps were the most common manifestation found in our cohort., Conclusion: We believe that the FAP mutational spectrum can be population-specific and screening FAP patients in different populations can improve pre-clinical diagnosis and improve clinical conduct.

Objective: Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL±P) is a common craniofacial anomaly with multifactorial etiology. Evidence suggests that variations in WNT pathway genes contribute to an increased susceptibility to NSCL±P. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of AXIN1, APC, CTNNB1, DVL2, and GSK3β gene variants with NSCL±P in a case-control data set from Brazil., Patients: 471 individuals with NSCL±P and 504 unrelated control individuals of Caucasian ethnicity., Design: Twenty single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in/nearby AXIN1, APC, CTNNB1, DVL2, and GSK3B genes were genotyped using Taqman chemistry in a Viia7 sequence detection instrument. Genotype, allele, and haplotype frequencies were compared among NSCL±P patients and controls using Fisher exact test, implemented in PLINK software. The level of significance was established at P ≤.002 under Bonferroni correction. In silico analysis of SNP function was assessed using MirSNP database., Results: Significant association was found between GSK3B rs13314595 genotypes and NSCL±P ( P = .0006). Additionally, nominal associations were found between DVL2 (rs35594616) and APC (rs448475) with NSCL±P ( P = .02 and P = .03, respectively). SNP haplotypes for GSK3B and APC genes showed nominal associations with NSCL±P ( P < .05). In silico analysis predicted that APC rs448475 harbors a binding site for the microRNA miR-617 and that the switch from a G allele to C allele enhances binding, whereas DVL2 rs35594616 did not appear to harbor microRNA-binding sites., Conclusion: This study shows for the first time the association between GSK3B and NSCL±P and confirms the role of additional WNT pathway genes as candidates for NSCL±P.

Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) germline mutations are responsible for the occurrence of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Somatic mutations lead to malignant transformation of adenomas. In this context, considering the significance of APC germline mutations in FAP, we aimed to identify APC germline mutations. In the present study, 20 FAP patients were enrolled. The determination of APC germline mutations was performed using sequencing, and the mutations were compared with clinical markers (gender, age at diagnosis, smoking habits, TNM stage, Astler‑Coller stage, degree of differentiation of adenocarcinoma). The data were compared using the SPSS program, with the Fisher's exact test and χ2 test, considering α=0.05. According to the main results in our sample, 16 alleles with deleterious mutations (80% of the patients) were identified while 7 (35%) patients had no deleterious mutations. There was a predominance of nonsense (45% of the patients) and frameshift (20% of the patients) mutations. There was no statistical significance between the APC germline mutations identified and the clinical variables considered in our study. Only TNM stage was associated with the presence of deleterious mutations. Patients with deleterious mutations had an OR, 0.086 (IC=0.001-0.984); TNM stage I+II in comparison with III+IV, when compared with the patients with no deleterious mutations identified. In this context, as a conclusion, we demonstrated the molecular heterogeneity of APC germline mutations in FAP and the difficulty to perform molecular diagnostics in a Brazilian population, considering the admixed population analyzed.