A Literature Review and Pooled Case Analysis of Cardiofaciocutaneous Syndrome to Estimate Cancer Risk

Read the full article See related articles

Listed in

This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.
Log in to save this article

Abstract

Background

Cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome (CFC) is a rare disorder with multiple congenital anomalies including macrocephaly, failure to thrive, and neurocognitive delay. CFC is part “RASopathy” syndromes caused by pathogenic germline variants in BRAF, KRAS, MAP2K1, and MAP2K2. To estimate cancer risk in CFC we conducted a systematic review using case reports and series.

Methods

We reviewed articles and abstracted CFC cases to form a retrospective cohort based on PRISMA guidelines. Genotype-pphenotype (cancer) correlations, standardized incidence ratios (SIR), cumulative incidence and cause-specific hazard rates for cancer and cancer-free in CFC were calculated.

Results

This study includes 198 publications reporting 690 patients. Only 1.6% (11) had cancer, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Six cancer patients harbored pathogenic variants within BRAF, MAP2K1 , and MAP2K2 . Cumulative incidence by age 10 was 5% for cancer or cancer-free death. Hazard Ratio (death) was 1-2% until age 3 and declined thereafter. Significant SIRs were found for all sites (SIR=4.96) and ALL (SIR=24.23).

Conclusions

This is the largest investigation of cancer in CFC to date. Cancer risk in the CFC population is elevated but appears limited to earlier childhood. Modest case and cancer numbers could pose limitations to accurately assess cancer risk in CFC and more studies are needed.

Systematic Review Registration

The review was registered using PROSPERO under the identification tag CRD42023405823 ( https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=405823 )

Article activity feed