Ependymoma is the third most common pediatric brain tumor. Predisposition to develop ependymomas has been reported in different hereditary diseases, but the pathogenic variants related to the familial syndromes have rarely been detected in sporadic ependymomas. De novo variants in POLR2A, the gene encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with a wide range of clinical manifestations, characterized by severe infantile-onset hypotonia, developmental delay, feeding difficulties, palatal anomalies, and facial dysmorphisms. As somatic events, POLR2A mutations represent a recurrent somatic lesion in benign meningiomas. Here we describe a case of ependymoma in a 2-year-old male with a de novo pathogenic variant in POLR2A predicted to impair proper interaction of the subunit with transcription-elongation factor TFIIS, whose function is required for back-tracking of the enzyme due to elongation blocks or nucleotide misincorporation, and expected to result in an increased error and reduced elongation rates. To date, ependymoma has never been reported in patients harboring pathogenic POLR2A variants. Further information is required to explore the possibility of a differential clinical and functional impact of the pathogenic POLR2A variants and the eventual inclusion of the POLR2A neurodevelopmental disorder among the cancer predisposition syndromes with the possible development of ependymomas.

Posterior fossa ependymoma in neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by a de novo germline pathogenic Polr2a variant / Paparella, Roberto; Maria Caroleo, Anna; Agolini, Emanuele; Chillemi, Giovanni; Miele, Evelina; Pedace, Lucia; Rinelli, Martina; Pizzi, Simone; Boccuto, Luigi; Stefania Colafati, Giovanna; Lodi, Mariachiara; Cacchione, Antonella; Carai, Andrea; Cristina Digilio, Maria; Tomà, Paolo; Tartaglia, Marco; Mastronuzzi, Angela. - In: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS. PART A. - ISSN 1552-4833. - (2022), pp. 1-7. [10.1002/ajmg.a.62869]

Posterior fossa ependymoma in neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by a de novo germline pathogenic Polr2a variant

Roberto Paparella
Primo
;
Emanuele Agolini;Evelina Miele;Lucia Pedace;Simone Pizzi;Antonella Cacchione;Angela Mastronuzzi
2022

Abstract

Ependymoma is the third most common pediatric brain tumor. Predisposition to develop ependymomas has been reported in different hereditary diseases, but the pathogenic variants related to the familial syndromes have rarely been detected in sporadic ependymomas. De novo variants in POLR2A, the gene encoding the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with a wide range of clinical manifestations, characterized by severe infantile-onset hypotonia, developmental delay, feeding difficulties, palatal anomalies, and facial dysmorphisms. As somatic events, POLR2A mutations represent a recurrent somatic lesion in benign meningiomas. Here we describe a case of ependymoma in a 2-year-old male with a de novo pathogenic variant in POLR2A predicted to impair proper interaction of the subunit with transcription-elongation factor TFIIS, whose function is required for back-tracking of the enzyme due to elongation blocks or nucleotide misincorporation, and expected to result in an increased error and reduced elongation rates. To date, ependymoma has never been reported in patients harboring pathogenic POLR2A variants. Further information is required to explore the possibility of a differential clinical and functional impact of the pathogenic POLR2A variants and the eventual inclusion of the POLR2A neurodevelopmental disorder among the cancer predisposition syndromes with the possible development of ependymomas.
2022
polr2a; ependymoma; germline variant; hypotonia; neurodevelopmental syndrome
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01i Case report
Posterior fossa ependymoma in neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by a de novo germline pathogenic Polr2a variant / Paparella, Roberto; Maria Caroleo, Anna; Agolini, Emanuele; Chillemi, Giovanni; Miele, Evelina; Pedace, Lucia; Rinelli, Martina; Pizzi, Simone; Boccuto, Luigi; Stefania Colafati, Giovanna; Lodi, Mariachiara; Cacchione, Antonella; Carai, Andrea; Cristina Digilio, Maria; Tomà, Paolo; Tartaglia, Marco; Mastronuzzi, Angela. - In: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS. PART A. - ISSN 1552-4833. - (2022), pp. 1-7. [10.1002/ajmg.a.62869]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1650944
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