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Background & Aims: In Latin America, genetic testing for Lynch Syndrome (LS) has been partially implemented. Traditionally, LS diagnosis relied on the Amsterdam criteria and Bethesda guidelines, collectively known as Traditional Screening (TS). However, TS may miss up to 68% of LS cases. To improve detection rates, Universal Tumor Screening (UTS) has been introduced. UTS involves screening all newly diagnosed colorectal cancer (CRC) patients for molecular markers to more effectively identify LS cases., Methods: Clinical and molecular data on 1,684 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, collected between 1999 and 2020, were provided by 24 Latin American genetic cancer registries and centers. Germline genetic testing was not consistently performed across all cases., Results: LS screening strategies were available for 72% (1,209/1,684) of cases, with germline testing conducted in one-quarter (304/1,209) of these. Most cases (78%, n=943) underwent UTS, primarily in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, while 22% (266/1,209) were screened through TS. UTS identified deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) tumors in 29% (272/943) of cases. The rate of LS confirmed by sequencing was higher with UTS (53.3%, 65/122) compared to TS (47.8%, 87/182), though the difference was not statistically significant (P value = 0.175)., Conclusions: UTS is widely implemented in Latin America; however, the low detection rate of LS demonstrated in this study raises concerns about the routine use of germline genetic testing in our region. Our study provides real-world outcomes that highlight disparities in screening uptake and counseling referrals, illustrating the challenges that Latin American countries face in hereditary cancer syndrome screening. These results contribute to the rationale for designing effective screening strategies for LS, which may also be applicable to other hereditary cancer syndromes, ultimately., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

MUTYH-Associated Polyposis (MAP) is caused by biallelic pathogenic germline variants in the MUTYH gene. However, individuals harboring monoallelic MUTYH pathogenic variants in the presence of a positive family history have been reported to have a twofold increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and extra colonic cancers. Our aim was to characterize the spectrum of monoallelic and biallelic germline MUTYH pathogenic variants in Latin American patients and to describe their clinical and genetic characteristics. Patients were identified from eight high-risk genetic cancer centers of five Latin American countries. Statistical analysis was performed using the two-sided P test using the Vassarstats statistical tools. Statistical significance was set at a p value ≤ 0.05. Of the 105 unrelated patients with cancer or colorectal polyposis, 84.8% and 15.2% carried pathogenic monoallelic and biallelic MUTYH variants, respectively. The most common pathogenic variants were p.Gly396Asp and p.Tyr179Cys (55% and 23%, respectively). The mean age at first diagnosis was 48.29 years (range 31-71) and 49.90 years (range 27-87) in biallelic and monoallelic MUTYH patients, respectively. CRC was the only cancer diagnosed in patients with biallelic MUTYH pathogenic variants (75%), while breast cancer (46.1%) was more common than CRC (24.7%) in individuals with monoallelic MUTYH pathogenic variants. We reported a high frequency of European founder variants in our diverse population. Some phenotypic differences from current studies were identified, such as a higher breast cancer burden in monoallelic carriers and a complete absence of extra-colon tumors in biallelic patients., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Urinary tract infection is one of the most common infections in humans, affecting women in more proportion. The bladder was considered sterile, but it has a urinary microbiome. Moreover, intracellular bacteria (IB) were observed in uroepithelial cells from children and women with urinary tract infections (UTIs). Here, we evaluated the presence of IB in urine from healthy people and patients with UTI symptoms., Methods: Midstream urine was self-collected from 141 donors, 77 females and 64 males; 72 belonged to the asymptomatic group and 69 were symptomatic. IB was characterized by a culture-dependent technique and visualized by confocal microscopy. Urine was also subjected to the classical uroculture and isolated bacteria were identified by MALDI-TOF., Results: One-hundred and fifteen uroculture were positive. A significant association was observed between the presence of symptoms and IB (P = 0.007). Moreover, a significant association between the presence of IB, symptoms and being female was observed (P = 0.03). From the cases with IB, Escherichia coli was the most frequent microorganism identified (34.7%), followed by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (14.2%), Staphylococcus spp (14.2%), and Enterococcus faecalis (10.7%). Intracellular E. coli was associated with the symptomatic group (P = 0.02). Most of the intracellular Staphylococcus spp. were recovered from the asymptomatic group (P = 0.006)., Conclusions: Intracellular bacteria are present in patients with UTI but also in asymptomatic people. Here, we report for the first time, the presence of S. maltophilia, Staphylococcus spp., and Enterobacter cloacae as intracellular bacteria in uroepithelial cells. These findings open new insights into the comprehension of urinary tract infections, urinary microbiome and future therapies. Uroculture as the gold standard could not be enough for an accurate diagnosis in recurrent or complicated cases., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Here, in a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study meta-analysis of kidney cancer (29,020 cases and 835,670 controls), we identified 63 susceptibility regions (50 novel) containing 108 independent risk loci. In analyses stratified by subtype, 52 regions (78 loci) were associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and 6 regions (7 loci) with papillary RCC. Notably, we report a variant common in African ancestry individuals ( rs7629500 ) in the 3' untranslated region of VHL, nearly tripling clear cell RCC risk (odds ratio 2.72, 95% confidence interval 2.23-3.30). In cis-expression quantitative trait locus analyses, 48 variants from 34 regions point toward 83 candidate genes. Enrichment of hypoxia-inducible factor-binding sites underscores the importance of hypoxia-related mechanisms in kidney cancer. Our results advance understanding of the genetic architecture of kidney cancer, provide clues for functional investigation and enable generation of a validated polygenic risk score with an estimated area under the curve of 0.65 (0.74 including risk factors) among European ancestry individuals., (© 2024. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Aims: To report the distribution of allele frequencies of CYP2D6 gene and to evaluate their influence on the clinical outcomes of a group of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant tamoxifen treatment from Uruguay. Patients & methods: 199 samples were genotyped through real-time polymerase chain reaction assays. Metabolization profiles were inferred from the genotypes. Correlations were evaluated using Pearson's χ 2 test. Results: Phenotype frequencies were 0.65 normal (NM), 0.30 intermediate (IM) and 0.05 poor metabolizers (PM). Similar clinical outcomes between NM and (PM + IM) patient groups (odds ratio = 1.011, 95% CI = 0.2703-3.7826; p = 0.987) were found. Conclusion: CYP2D6 allele frequencies were analyzed for the first time in a cohort from Uruguay. Results did not support any impact of CYP2D6 gene polymorphisms on clinical outcomes.

Background: The Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database (PLSD) collates information on carriers of pathogenic or likely pathogenic MMR variants ( path_MMR ) who are receiving medical follow-up, including colonoscopy surveillance, which aims to the achieve early diagnosis and treatment of cancers. Here we use the most recent PLSD cohort that is larger and has wider geographical representation than previous versions, allowing us to present mortality as an outcome, and median ages at cancer diagnoses for the first time., Methods: The PLSD is a prospective observational study without a control group that was designed in 2012 and updated up to October 2022. Data for 8500 carriers of path_MMR variants from 25 countries were included, providing 71,713 years of follow up. Cumulative cancer incidences at 65 years of age were combined with 10-year crude survival following cancer, to derive estimates of mortality up to 75 years of age by organ, gene, and gender., Findings: Gynaecological cancers were more frequent than colorectal cancers in path_MSH2, path_MSH6 and path_PMS2 carriers [cumulative incidence: 53.3%, 49.6% and 23.3% at 75 years, respectively]. Endometrial, colon and ovarian cancer had low mortality [8%, 13% and 15%, respectively] and prostate cancers were frequent in male path_MSH2 carriers [cumulative incidence: 39.7% at 75 years]. Pancreatic, brain, biliary tract and ureter and kidney and urinary bladder cancers were associated with high mortality [83%, 66%, 58%, 27%, and 29%, respectively]. Among path_MMR carriers undergoing colonoscopy surveillance, particularly path_MSH2 carriers, more deaths followed non-colorectal Lynch syndrome cancers than colorectal cancers., Interpretation: In path_MMR carriers undergoing colonoscopy surveillance, non-colorectal Lynch syndrome cancers were associated with more deaths than were colorectal cancers. Reducing deaths from non-colorectal cancers presents a key challenge in contemporary medical care in Lynch syndrome., Funding: We acknowledge funding from the Norwegian Cancer Society, contract 194751-2017., Competing Interests: R.B. has received honoraria for lectures and advisory boards from AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Illumina, Lilly, Merck-Serono, MSD, Novartis, Qiagen, Pfizer, Roche, and Targos MP Inc. R.B. is a Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor for Targos Mol. Pathology Inc. Kassel/Germany. T.T.S. is the CEO and co-owner of Healthfund Finland Oy and reports consultation fees from Boehringer Ingelheim Finland and Amgen. FB is supported by JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS (clinical trial for Familial Adenomatous polyposis). RH is supported by the 10.13039/501100002424Fujifilm Germany and Janssen-Pharmaceuticals. LK is consultant of Sandoz, Novartis and Abbott. GM reports consultancy fees from Johnson & Johnson., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Colorectal cancer (CRC), the 3rd most frequent cancer worldwide, affects both men and women. This pathology arises from the progressive accumulation of genetic and epigenetic alterations. In this study, KRAS, NRAS, PIK3CA, and BRAF gene mutations, mismatch repair (MMR) genes methylation profile, microsatellite instability (MSI) and CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (CIMP) status were assessed. The associations of these molecular features with clinicopathological data were also investigated. A hundred and eight unselected CRC samples and their histological and clinical data, were gathered between 2017 and 2020. The prevalence of KRAS, NRAS and BRAF gene mutations was similar to that described in other populations. 28.7% of tumors were KRAS-mutated, mostly in men, distal location, with a CIMP-negative status. BRAFV600E frequency was 6.5% and associated with MSI (p = 0.048), MLH1-methylated (p < 0.001) and CIMP-High (p < 0.001) status. We also confirmed that BRAFV600E tumors were more prevalent in older women and proximal location. A striking different result was the lack of most common variants in the PIK3CA gene. A complete absence of PIK3CA-mutated tumors in a population has not been previously reported. Among MMR genes, the only with an aberrant methylation pattern was MLH1 gene. Its frequency was 9.25%, lower than previously reported. Methylated tumors were most frequent in patients older than 70 years old and proximal tumor location. Finally, CIMP-High status was mainly observed in moderately differentiated tumors with a rate of 15.7%. Our findings were consistent with previous reports in other populations, but also showed some features unique to our cohort. This study is the first to report the analysis of a large number molecular biomarkers of CRC in Uruguay and one of the few performed in Latin-America., Competing Interests: Declarations of interest None., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To compare colorectal cancer (CRC) incidences in carriers of pathogenic variants of the MMR genes in the PLSD and IMRC cohorts, of which only the former included mandatory colonoscopy surveillance for all participants., Methods: CRC incidences were calculated in an intervention group comprising a cohort of confirmed carriers of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes (path&#95;MMR) followed prospectively by the Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database (PLSD). All had colonoscopy surveillance, with polypectomy when polyps were identified. Comparison was made with a retrospective cohort reported by the International Mismatch Repair Consortium (IMRC). This comprised confirmed and inferred path&#95;MMR carriers who were first- or second-degree relatives of Lynch syndrome probands., Results: In the PLSD, 8,153 subjects had follow-up colonoscopy surveillance for a total of 67,604 years and 578 carriers had CRC diagnosed. Average cumulative incidences of CRC in path&#95;MLH1 carriers at 70 years of age were 52% in males and 41% in females; for path&#95;MSH2 50% and 39%; for path&#95;MSH6 13% and 17% and for path&#95;PMS2 11% and 8%. In contrast, in the IMRC cohort, corresponding cumulative incidences were 40% and 27%; 34% and 23%; 16% and 8% and 7% and 6%. Comparing just the European carriers in the two series gave similar findings. Numbers in the PLSD series did not allow comparisons of carriers from other continents separately. Cumulative incidences at 25 years were < 1% in all retrospective groups., Conclusions: Prospectively observed CRC incidences (PLSD) in path&#95;MLH1 and path&#95;MSH2 carriers undergoing colonoscopy surveillance and polypectomy were higher than in the retrospective (IMRC) series, and were not reduced in path&#95;MSH6 carriers. These findings were the opposite to those expected. CRC point incidence before 50 years of age was reduced in path&#95;PMS2 carriers subjected to colonoscopy, but not significantly so., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Pathogenic variants affecting MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 cause Lynch syndrome and result in different but imprecisely known cancer risks. This study aimed to provide age and organ-specific cancer risks according to gene and gender and to determine survival after cancer., Methods: We conducted an international, multicenter prospective observational study using independent test and validation cohorts of carriers of class 4 or class 5 variants. After validation the cohorts were merged providing 6350 participants and 51,646 follow-up years., Results: There were 1808 prospectively observed cancers. Pathogenic MLH1 and MSH2 variants caused high penetrance dominant cancer syndromes sharing similar colorectal, endometrial, and ovarian cancer risks, but older MSH2 carriers had higher risk of cancers of the upper urinary tract, upper gastrointestinal tract, brain, and particularly prostate. Pathogenic MSH6 variants caused a sex-limited trait with high endometrial cancer risk but only modestly increased colorectal cancer risk in both genders. We did not demonstrate a significantly increased cancer risk in carriers of pathogenic PMS2 variants. Ten-year crude survival was over 80% following colon, endometrial, or ovarian cancer., Conclusion: Management guidelines for Lynch syndrome may require revision in light of these different gene and gender-specific risks and the good prognosis for the most commonly associated cancers.

We aimed to assess the current genetics practice to manage patients with Lynch syndrome (LS) across Latin America. A Latin American LS survey was sent out to 52 centres/registries, comprising a total of 12 countries from the region. Overall, 33 centres completed the survey, of which the oldest LS registry was established in 1992 in Sao Paulo (Brazil), and the youngest this year in San Jose (Costa Rica). In total, 87% (26/30) of the participating centres/registries belonging to the nine countries are performing genetic testing. Overall, 1352 suspected families were sequenced. Pathogenic variants were identified in 34% of the families, with slightly differing distribution of variants between females and males. Path&#95;MLH1 variants were identified in 39% of females and 50% of males (p = 0.023), while path&#95;MSH2 were identified in 37% of females and males, followed by path&#95;PMS2 in 11% of females and 8% of males, path&#95;MSH6 in 13% of females and 3% of males (p < 0.001) and path&#95;EPCAM in 0.3% of females and 2% of males. In Latin America, 9 of 12 (75%) participating countries had implemented healthcare for LS. LS screening is inconsistently applied within Latin America healthcare systems because of structural differences in the healthcare systems between the countries., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the highest rates reported for Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. We provide a global snapshot of the CRC patterns, how screening is performed, and compared/contrasted to the genetic profile of Lynch syndrome (LS) in the region. From the literature, we find that only nine (20%) of the Latin America and the Caribbean countries have developed guidelines for early detection of CRC, and also with a low adherence. We describe a genetic profile of LS, including a total of 2,685 suspected families, where confirmed LS ranged from 8% in Uruguay and Argentina to 60% in Peru. Among confirmed LS, path&#95;MLH1 variants were most commonly identified in Peru (82%), Mexico (80%), Chile (60%), and path&#95;MSH2/EPCAM variants were most frequently identified in Colombia (80%) and Argentina (47%). Path&#95;MSH6 and path&#95;PMS2 variants were less common, but they showed important presence in Brazil (15%) and Chile (10%), respectively. Important differences exist at identifying LS families in Latin American countries, where the spectrum of path&#95;MLH1 and path&#95;MSH2 variants are those most frequently identified. Our findings have an impact on the evaluation of the patients and their relatives at risk for LS, derived from the gene affected. Although the awareness of hereditary cancer and genetic testing has improved in the last decade, it is remains deficient, with 39%-80% of the families not being identified for LS among those who actually met both the clinical criteria for LS and showed MMR deficiency., (© 2018 The Authors. International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.)

Background: Recent epidemiological evidence shows that colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to occur in carriers of pathogenic mismatch repair ( path&#95;MMR ) variants despite frequent colonoscopy surveillance in expert centres. This observation conflicts with the paradigm that removal of all visible polyps should prevent the vast majority of CRC in path&#95;MMR carriers, provided the screening interval is sufficiently short and colonoscopic practice is optimal., Methods: To inform the debate, we examined, in the Prospective Lynch Syndrome Database (PLSD), whether the time since last colonoscopy was associated with the pathological stage at which CRC was diagnosed during prospective surveillance. Path&#95;MMR carriers were recruited for prospective surveillance by colonoscopy. Only variants scored by the InSiGHT Variant Interpretation Committee as class 4 and 5 (clinically actionable) were included. CRCs detected at the first planned colonoscopy, or within one year of this, were excluded as prevalent cancers., Results: Stage at diagnosis and interval between last prospective surveillance colonoscopy and diagnosis were available for 209 patients with 218 CRCs, including 162 path&#95;MLH1 , 45 path &#95; MSH2 , 10 path&#95;MSH6 and 1 path&#95;PMS2 carriers. The numbers of cancers detected within < 1.5, 1.5-2.5, 2.5-3.5 and at > 3.5 years since last colonoscopy were 36, 93, 56 and 33, respectively. Among these, 16.7, 19.4, 9.9 and 15.1% were stage III-IV, respectively ( p  = 0.34). The cancers detected more than 2.5 years after the last colonoscopy were not more advanced than those diagnosed earlier ( p  = 0.14)., Conclusions: The CRC stage and interval since last colonoscopy were not correlated, which is in conflict with the accelerated adenoma-carcinoma paradigm. We have previously reported that more frequent colonoscopy is not associated with lower incidence of CRC in path&#95;MMR carriers as was expected. In contrast, point estimates showed a higher incidence with shorter intervals between examinations, a situation that may parallel to over-diagnosis in breast cancer screening. Our findings raise the possibility that some CRCs in path&#95;MMR carriers may spontaneously disappear: the host immune response may not only remove CRC precursor lesions in path&#95;MMR carriers, but may remove infiltrating cancers as well. If confirmed, our suggested interpretation will have a bearing on surveillance policy for path&#95;MMR carriers., Competing Interests: All reporting centers obtained informed consent for genetic testing and surveillance procedures. De-identified data was exported for the current study. No named registry needing approval was established for the current study.Not applicable.Toni Seppälä: a co-owner (20%) of Healthfund Finland Oy (educational and health care services in Finland, not related to patients or scope of this manuscript). Travel costs to a scientific meeting by Medtronic Finland. John Burn: a patent for high speed low cost tumor profiling pending to John Burn and QuantuMDx. All others: None declared.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Inactivating mutations in the MLH1 gene cause the cancer predisposition Lynch syndrome, but for small coding genetic variants it is mostly unclear if they are inactivating or not. Nine such MLH1 variants have been identified in South American colorectal cancer (CRC) patients (p.Tyr97Asp, p.His112Gln, p.Pro141Ala, p.Arg265Pro, p.Asn338Ser, p.Ile501del, p.Arg575Lys, p.Lys618del, p.Leu676Pro), and evidence of pathogenicity or neutrality was not available for the majority of these variants. We therefore performed biochemical laboratory testing of the variant proteins and compared the results to protein in silico predictions on structure and conservation. Additionally, we collected all available clinical information of the families to come to a conclusion concerning their pathogenic potential and facilitate clinical diagnosis in the affected families. We provide evidence that four of the alterations are causative for Lynch syndrome, four are likely neutral and one shows compromised activity which can currently not be classified with respect to its pathogenic potential. The work demonstrates that biochemical testing, corroborated by congruent evolutionary and structural information, can serve to reliably classify uncertain variants when other data are insufficient., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant genetic condition, caused by mutations in the adenomatous polyposis coli ( APC ) tumor suppressor gene. Desmoid tumors (DTs) are seen in 15% to 20% of FAP patients. Specific location of mutation serves as a guide to predict colonic and extra colonic manifestations and their aggressiveness. A severe FAP-phenotypic family was registered in a genetic counselling high-risk Uruguayan hereditary cancer clinic. Proband's DNA was analysed by NGS, detecting a pathogenic mutation in APC gene. All willing family members were counselled and encouraged to be tested. Here we report a kindred formed by 16 individuals with a very severe FAP phenotype. A two-base deletion mutation: c.4393&#95;4394delAG in APC gene and a consequent premature stop codon was detected. DTs were diagnosed in 6 individuals, ranging from 2 to 25 years of age. The causes of death were diverse: gastric cancer, rectal cancer and desmoid tumor. The already described genotype-phenotype correlation has proved its worth in this family, as clinical features reflect the mutation location at 3' end of APC gene. The inheritable and lethal nature of the disease needs a tailored follow up approach in order to reduce mortality, optimize local tumor control, and preserve patients' quality of life., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: Genetic counselling and testing for Lynch syndrome (LS) have recently been introduced in several Latin America countries. We aimed to characterize the clinical, molecular and mismatch repair (MMR) variants spectrum of patients with suspected LS in Latin America., Methods: Eleven LS hereditary cancer registries and 34 published LS databases were used to identify unrelated families that fulfilled the Amsterdam II (AMSII) criteria and/or the Bethesda guidelines or suggestive of a dominant colorectal (CRC) inheritance syndrome., Results: We performed a thorough investigation of 15 countries and identified 6 countries where germline genetic testing for LS is available and 3 countries where tumor testing is used in the LS diagnosis. The spectrum of pathogenic MMR variants included MLH1 up to 54%, MSH2 up to 43%, MSH6 up to 10%, PMS2 up to 3% and EPCAM up to 0.8%. The Latin America MMR spectrum is broad with a total of 220 different variants which 80% were private and 20% were recurrent. Frequent regions included exons 11 of MLH1 (15%), exon 3 and 7 of MSH2 (17 and 15%, respectively), exon 4 of MSH6 (65%), exons 11 and 13 of PMS2 (31% and 23%, respectively). Sixteen international founder variants in MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6 were identified and 41 (19%) variants have not previously been reported, thus representing novel genetic variants in the MMR genes. The AMSII criteria was the most used clinical criteria to identify pathogenic MMR carriers although microsatellite instability, immunohistochemistry and family history are still the primary methods in several countries where no genetic testing for LS is available yet., Conclusion: The Latin America LS pathogenic MMR variants spectrum included new variants, frequently altered genetic regions and potential founder effects, emphasizing the relevance implementing Lynch syndrome genetic testing and counseling in all of Latin America countries.

Up to 10% of cases of gastric cancer are familial, but so far, only mutations in CDH1 have been associated with gastric cancer risk. To identify genetic variants that affect risk for gastric cancer, we collected blood samples from 28 patients with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC) not associated with mutations in CDH1 and performed whole-exome sequence analysis. We then analyzed sequences of candidate genes in 333 independent HDGC and non-HDGC cases. We identified 11 cases with mutations in PALB2, BRCA1, or RAD51C genes, which regulate homologous DNA recombination. We found these mutations in 2 of 31 patients with HDGC (6.5%) and 9 of 331 patients with sporadic gastric cancer (2.8%). Most of these mutations had been previously associated with other types of tumors and partially co-segregated with gastric cancer in our study. Tumors that developed in patients with these mutations had a mutation signature associated with somatic homologous recombination deficiency. Our findings indicate that defects in homologous recombination increase risk for gastric cancer., (Copyright © 2017 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

After decades of unawareness about Lynch syndrome, the medical community in South America is increasingly interested and informed. The visits and support of mentors like H. T. Lynch had been crucial to this awakening. Several countries have at least one registry with skilled personnel in genetic counseling and research. However, this only represents a very restricted resource for the region. According to the GETH, there are 27 hereditary cancer care centers in South America (21 in Brazil, 3 in Argentina, 1 in Uruguay, 1 in Chile and 1 in Peru). These registries differ in fundamental aspects of function, capabilities and funding, but are able to conduct high quality clinical, research and educational activities due to the dedication and personal effort of their members, and organizational support. More support from the governments as well as the participation of the community would boost the initiatives of people leading these groups. Meantime, the collaboration among the South American registries and the involvement of registries and leaders from developed countries will allow to maximize the efficiency in caring for affected patients and their families. The aim of this article is to describe how the knowledge of LS began to be spread in South America, how the first registries were organized and to summarize the current state of progress. In addition, we will provide an update of the clinical and molecular findings in the region.

Background: Genetic counselling and testing for Lynch syndrome have recently been introduced in several South American countries, though yet not available in the public health care system., Methods: We compiled data from publications and hereditary cancer registries to characterize the Lynch syndrome mutation spectrum in South America. In total, data from 267 families that fulfilled the Amsterdam criteria and/or the Bethesda guidelines from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay were included., Results: Disease-predisposing mutations were identified in 37% of the families and affected MLH1 in 60% and MSH2 in 40%. Half of the mutations have not previously been reported and potential founder effects were identified in Brazil and in Colombia., Conclusion: The South American Lynch syndrome mutation spectrum includes multiple new mutations, identifies potential founder effects and is useful for future development of genetic testing in this continent.