High Frequency of Variants Associated with Benign and Malignant Liver Tumors in Patients with Congenital Porto-Systemic Shunts.

INTRODUCTION

Patients born with congenital porto-systemic shunts have been shown to have a high risk of benign and malignant liver tumors in otherwise healthy livers. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic landscape of liver tumors in patients with congenital porto-systemic shunts (CPSS) and correlate genotype with histological findings.

METHODS

Nodules from patients with CPSS and sporadic pediatric focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) or FNH-like nodules were evaluated histologically and sequenced for a panel of 50 genes using next-generation sequencing.

RESULTS

Thirty-eight nodules from 17 patients with CPSS were histologically classified as hepatoblastomas ( = 2), hepatocellular carcinomas ( = 4), HNF-1α-inactivated hepatocellular adenomas (HCAs) ( = 2), β-catenin-activated HCAs ( = 5), unclassified HCAs ( = 9), and FNH-like nodules ( = 16). variants were detected in 26/38 nodules (68%) across different histological categories (2/2 hepatoblastomas, 4/4 HCCs, 10/16 HCAs, 10/16 FNH-like nodules), but not in sporadic FNH or FNH-like nodules (0/10). Less frequent variants were identified in , , , , , , , , , , and the promoter region of . Germline variants were identified in , , , and . variants affecting amino acid positions 32 and 33 are more common in malignant tumors. Multiple variants were identified in 6/7 (86%) of patients with multiple nodules, but no intratumoral variation was found.

DISCUSSION

CPSS is strongly associated with nodules containing variants in , irrespective of the histological category. Areas in background liver containing these variants were also identified, and different variants could be identified in individual patients. The high proportion of variants may explain the higher malignant potential of benign tumors found in CPSS.