Association between Mutation in SMARCAD1 and Basan Syndrome with Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Basan syndrome is a rare autosomal-dominant ectodermal dysplasia with certain clinic-pathological features caused by mutations in the SMARCAD1 gene. Currently, no skin malignancy related to Basan syndrome has been reported. This study was aimed at identifying related gene mutations in a new Chinese pedigree with Basan syndrome and discovering the possible association between Basan syndrome and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC).

We report a case of Basan syndrome from China with family history of cSCC. The pedigree contains 28 individuals. Among them, 12 members had Basan syndrome, while 4 affected members were diagnosed with cSCC in the 1st and 2nd generations. Whole exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing were performed for 7 available individuals. The specific gene mutation on pre-mRNA splicing was also analyzed using in vitro Minigene assay. In addition, sequencing data was analyzed with bioinformatics workflow, aiming to discover the gene associated with cSCC.

Gene sequencing results showed a heterozygous mutation, c.378+5G>A, in the SMARCAD1 gene in all tested individuals with Basan syndrome. Minigene result implicated the specific mutation may cause splicing variations by exon skipping occurring in the targeted exons.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reported Basan syndrome with family history of cSCC. Despite in this study we cannot draw any conclusion about the association between Basan syndrome and cSCC at the genetic level, this study encourages future works to substantiate this potential but important issue.