The risk of concurrent malignancies in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1: insights into clinical characteristics of those with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

OBJECTIVE: Summarize and analyze the characteristics of patients with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) who were diagnosed with malignant tumors that do not belong to MEN-1 components.

METHODS: Clinical data from patients with MEN-1 who visited Peking Union Medical College Hospital between April 2012 and April 2022 were collected. We compared the clinical characteristics of patients with malignant tumors outside of their MEN-1 components to those without additional tumors. MEN-1 gene testing was performed on most of these patients using Sanger sequencing, whole-exome sequencing, or MLPA.

RESULTS: A total of 221 MEN-1 patients were diagnosed, of which 23 (10.40%) were found to have malignant tumors that did not belong to MEN-1 components, including papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) (4.52%), breast cancer (1.81%), urologic neoplasms (1.35%), primary hepatic carcinoma (PCC) (0.09%), meningeal sarcoma (0.05%), glioblastoma (0.05%), cervical cancer (0.05%), and lung carcinoma (0.05%). MEN-1 gene mutations were identified in 11 patients, including missense mutations, frameshift mutations, and splice mutations. The prevalence of each endocrine neoplasm, particularly gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, was higher in MEN-1 patients with other malignant tumors compared to MEN-1 patients without malignant tumors.

CONCLUSION: Our retrospective study revealed a higher incidence of non-MEN-1 component malignant tumors in MEN-1 patients, especially breast cancer, PTC, and urologic neoplasms. These patients also exhibit more severe clinical phenotypes of MEN-1.