Pleuropulmonary blastoma: The causative role of germ-line DICER1 mutations.

10024 Background: Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare, aggressive childhood lung cancer that is often the first manifestation of the PPB-DICER1 familial tumor predisposition which includes other benign and malignant conditions. The initial genetic mutation is inherited by a germ-line loss of function of DICER1 gene which was discovered by Hill et al. It is proposed that loss of DICER1 expression alters miRNA regulation of key regulatory cellular mechanisms which promote tumor growth. PPB can progress from the purely cystic, curable Type I to a high-grade Type III having a dismal prognosis. We sought to determine the frequency of DICER1mutation in the largest cohort of PPB patients to date. Methods: We obtained germ-line DNA from saliva or blood samples from 113 PPB patients collected from 2005-2012. DNA was extracted using the Maxwell 16 Research System (Promega Corporation, Madison WI). Sample quality and quantity was checked using the Nanodrop 2000 (Thermo Scientific, Wilmington, DE). Sequencing wa...