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Updated: Aug 13, 2025

Targeted Next-generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics Pipeline to Evaluate Genetic Determinants of Constitutional Disease
Published on: April 4, 2018
Characterization of a germline variant MSH6 c.4001G > C in a Lynch syndrome family
Ciyu Yang1, Maksym Misyura1, Sarah Kane2
1Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
Background:
Germline variants in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2) cause Lynch syndrome, an autosomal dominant hereditary cancer susceptibility syndrome. The risk for endometrial cancer is significantly higher in women with MSH6 pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) variants compared with that for MLH1 or MSH2 variants.
Methods:
The proband was tested via a clinical testing, Memorial Sloan Kettering-Integrated Mutation Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets (MSK-IMPACT). RT-PCR was performed using patient's blood DNA and cDNA was analyzed by DNA sequencing and a cloning approach.
Results:
We report a 56-year-old female with endometrial cancer who carries a germline variant, MSH6 c.4001G > C, located at the last nucleotide of exon 9. While the pathogenicity of this variant was previously unknown, functional studies demonstrated that this variant completely abolished normal splicing and caused exon 9 skipping, which is expected to lead to a prematurely truncated or abnormal protein.
Conclusion:
Our results indicate that this variant likely contributes to cancer predisposition through disruption of normal splicing, and is classified as likely pathogenic.
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