The genomic landscape of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome: Possible clues for pathogenesis

Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS) is a rare hamartomatous polyposis syndrome with a proposed association with chronic autoimmune inflammation. To date, genetic background of patients with CCS remains less investigated. In this study we aimed to explore the genomic landscape of CCS.

Whole exome sequencing was performed on peripheral blood samples extracted from 18 patients with CCS. Potential function-impacting germline variants were filtered by R software. Through systematic data analysis, a number of genetic variants were identified. Enrichment analysis was performed using the R package ClusterProfiler.

Overall, 3960 low-frequency (<0.05 or not reported in the Exome Aggregation Consortium East Asian, 1000 Genomes, or ESP6500 database) potentially function-impacting germline variants were identified, with 18 genes (FDFT1, LOC400863, MUC3A, MUC4, ZNF806, GXYLT1, MUC6, PABPC3, PSPH, ZFPM1, CIC, LOC283710, ARSD, GOLGA6L2, LOC388282, SLC25A5, TMEM247, WDR89) involved over half the patients. Functional enrichment of these genes revealed several biological processes in relation to innate immune responses and glycosylation. Only one likely pathogenic germline variant of an hamartomatous polyposis syndrome-associated gene, PTCH1, was detected in one patient.

CCS has genomic alteration patterns completely distinct from those of traditional hamartomatous polyposis syndrome. The germline mutation landscape indicates potential roles of innate immune responses and glycosylation in the pathogenesis of CCS.