Solid tumours in RASopathies: insights from a large monocentric cohort and systematic review of the literature

Dysregulation of the RAS-mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling pathway underlies RASopathies, a family of neurodevelopmental disorders associated with variable cancer predisposition. However, the prevalence and spectrum of solid tumours and the contribution of specific variants to tumour susceptibility remain poorly defined.

We assessed solid tumour prevalence and spectrum in the largest single-centre cohort of individuals with RASopathies (n=138), excluding neurofibromatosis type 1 and integrated these findings with a systematic literature review to evaluate tumour distribution and genotype-phenotype correlations.

In our cohort, at least one solid tumour was identified in 10.8% of individuals with Noonan syndrome (NS), 47.8% with Costello syndrome (CS) and 7.3% with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFCS). Malignant tumours occurred in 5.4%, 30.4% and 2.4%, respectively. CS showed the highest tumour burden, frequently with multiple primary tumours, predominantly of the bladder. In NS, low-grade central nervous system (CNS) tumours were most common, particularly among individuals carrying PTPN11 variants. Tumour onset occurred with a median age of 19, 14 and 13 years in NS, CS and CFCS, respectively. Literature data analysis identified candidate variants in HRAS, PTPN11 and SOS1 genes associated with increased risk for solid tumours, which differed from mutational hotspots reported in childhood leukaemia or sporadic cancers.

Solid tumour risk in RASopathies is syndrome-dependent and genotype-dependent, with CS showing a high burden of bladder tumours and NS mainly associated with CNS tumours. These findings may support tailored surveillance strategies.