Carney complex

Carney complex (CNC) is a familial multiple neoplasia and lentiginosis syndrome (OMIM 160980, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim) with features overlapping those of other multiple endocrine neoplasias and hamartomatoses, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) in particular. Although a number of patients with CNC and ovarian tumors have been described in individual patient reports, it is unclear whether ovarian lesions constitute a component of the syndrome or are coincidental events. We investigated 18 women with CNC [age at first evaluation, 31.3+/-12.1 yr (mean +/- SD)] prospectively for the development of ovarian tumors over a period of 35.7+/-30.6 months by physical examination and pelvic ultrasonography. They were compared with 11 women (age at first evaluation, 32.9+/-17 yr) who were enrolled under the same protocol (follow up, 32.3+/-25.1 months) and served as a control group. In addition, a registry of 178 women from among a total of 309 patients with CNC was searched retrospectively for any having ovarian tumors. Seven available histological specimens were rereviewed. None of the CNC patients had ovarian tumors analogous to those of PJS. Two patients with CNC in the prospective group developed ovarian tumors and were operated upon. One had bilateral oophorectomy for asynchronous serous cystadenomas. The second patient had a unilateral serous cystadenoma. Resected tumor tissue from both patients was tested for genetic abnormalities of the chromosomal regions to which CNC genetic loci have been mapped. Both showed genomic amplification of chromosomal region 2p16. An additional 10 patients had at least 1 sonogram positive for ovarian cysts. Only 1 of the patients in the control group was found to have a persistent, simple ovarian cyst by ultrasonography. The registry of 178 CNC patients included 4 who had undergone surgery for ovarian tumors. The diagnoses included endometrioid adenocarcinoma (1 patient) and metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma (the primary site was probably ovarian; 1 patient). In addition, 7 of 12 patients (58%) with CNC, who died of other causes, had ovarian lesions at autopsy. In conclusion, although the same stromal tumor, large-cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor, affects the testes in CNC and PJS, we did not find such tumors in a small population of CNC patients that was studied prospectively or a larger group of CNC patients that was studied retrospectively. The results of our study also suggested that women with CNC commonly develop ovarian cysts and may be at risk for ovarian carcinoma. The chromosome 2p16 CNC locus was involved in ovarian pathology with apparent copy number gain, suggesting that at least molecularly there is some involvement of the CNC gene(s) in these lesions. Although ovarian tumors do not seem to be a major manifestation of CNC, sonography of the ovaries may be part of the initial evaluation for this genetic syndrome in women with CNC; follow-up of any identified lesion is recommended because of the possible risk for malignancy.

Carney complex is a multiple neoplasia syndrome featuring cardiac, endocrine, cutaneous, and neural tumors, as well as a variety of pigmented lesions of the skin and mucosae. Carney complex is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait and may simultaneously involve multiple endocrine glands, as in the classic multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes 1 and 2. Carney complex also has some similarities to McCuneAlbright syndrome, a sporadic condition that is also characterized by multiple endocrine and nonendocrine tumors. Carney complex shares skin abnormalities and some nonendocrine tumors with the lentiginoses and certain of the hamartomatoses, particularly Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, with which it shares mucosal lentiginosis and an unusual gonadal tumor, large-cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumor. Careful clinical analysis has enabled positional cloning efforts to identify two chromosomal loci harboring potential candidate genes for Carney complex. Most recently, at the 17q22-24 locus, the tumor suppressor gene PRKAR1A, coding for the type 1alpha regulatory subunit of PKA, was found to be mutated in approximately half of the known Carney complex kindreds. PRKAR1A acts a classic tumor suppressor gene as demonstrated by loss of heterozygosity at the 17q22-24 locus in tumors associated with the complex. The second locus, at chromosome 2p16, to which most (but not all) of the remaining kindreds map, is also involved in the molecular pathogenesis of Carney complex tumors, as demonstrated by multiple genetic changes at this locus, including loss of heterozygosity and copy number gain. Despite the known genetic heterogeneity in the disease, clinical analysis has not detected any corresponding phenotypic differences between patients with PRKAR1A mutations and those without. This article summarizes the clinical manifestations of Carney complex from a worldwide collection of affected patients and also presents revised diagnostic criteria for Carney complex. In light of the recent identification of mutations in the PRKAR1A gene, an estimate of penetrance and recommendations for genetic screening are provided.

Carney complex (CNC) is a familial multiple neoplasia syndrome with features overlapping those of McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS) and multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type 1 (MEN 1). Like MAS and MEN 1 patients, patients with CNC develop growth hormone (GH)-producing pituitary tumors. Occasionally, these tumors are also prolactin-producing, but there are no isolated prolactinomas or other types of pituitary tumors. In at least some patients with CNC, the pituitary gland is characterized by hyperplastic areas; hyperplasia appears to involve somatomammotrophs only. Hyperplasia most likely precedes the formation of GH-producing adenomas in CNC, as has been suggested in MAS-related somatotropinomas, but has never been seen in MEN 1 patients. In at least one case of a patient with CNC and advanced acromegaly, a GH-producing macroadenoma showed extensive genetic changes at the chromosomal level. So far, half of the patients with CNC have germline inactivating mutations in the PRKAR1A gene; in their pituitary tumors, the normal allele of the PRKAR1A gene is lost. Loss-of-hererozygosity suggests that PRKAR1A, which codes for the regulatory subunit type 1alpha of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) may act as a tumor-suppressor gene in CNC somatomammotrophs. These data provide evidence for a PRKAR1A-induced somatomammotroph hyperpasia in the pituitary tissue of CNC patients; hyperplasia, in turn may lead to additional genetic changes at the somatic level, which then cause the formation of adenomas in some, but not all, patients.

Carney complex (CC) is a familial multiple neoplasia and lentiginosis syndrome, transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner. It is the only familial form of cardiac and skin myxomas known, and is associated with endocrine neoplasms causing Cushing syndrome and acromegaly. We recently mapped the gene(s) responsible for CC on the short arm of chromosome 2 by linkage analysis of 11 North American kindreds (Stratakis et al. J.Clin. Invest. 97 (2): 1-7, 1996). Two additional kindreds (7 affected individuals) were recently recruited. Blood and tumor samples from patients and their family members were obtained. Patient-derived lymphoblastoid and tumor cell lines were established. Linkage analysis with microsatellite markers from the short arm of chromosome 2 (band 2p16) showed co-segregation with the disease locus with no new recombination events in one of the new families. Multipoint linkage analysis defined a region of approximately 4 cM, bordered by markers CA2 and D2S378, that is likely to contain the gene(s) associated with CC. Candidate genes in the proximity included the microsatellite stability-maintaining hMSH2 and hMSH6 genes, which, however, were excluded. The gene that codes for calcineurin (CALNB1) was also recently mapped to 2p16. After determining the intron-exon junctions of this gene, SSCP analysis and direct sequencing of its 5 exons did not reveal any abnormalities in 5 patients with CC from different families. Chromosome and microsatellite analysis of 9 tumors and tumor-derived cell lines indicated significant genomic, but not microsatellite instability, which was mostly present in telomeric regions. Since these and other tumors demonstrated genomic instability, and the hMSH2, hMSH6 and CALNB1 genes were excluded, we hypothesize that other, as yet unknown genes in this region are responsible for CC, whose function may be related to the preservation of chromosomal integrity and growth of dividing human cells. In order to identify the CC and other genes, we are constructing a detailed physical map of chromosome 2p16 employing YAC, BAC, PAC and P1 libraries. New CC families are collected for further refinement of the locus.

Background/Aims: Carney complex (CNC) is a rare syndrome associated with multiple tumors and several other unique manifestations. We describe the clinical, genetic, and laboratory findings in a cohort of patients with CNC and failure to thrive (FTT). Methods: A retrospective case series of pediatric patients with CNC presenting with FTT. Results: We describe a patient with infantile Cushing syndrome (CS) who presented with severe FTT and liver disease; the patient was subsequently diagnosed with CNC. This led to the realization that at least 10 other patients with CNC and FTT have been investigated in the last 22 years at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Four of those had primary pigmented nodular adrenocortical disease (PPNAD), 2 had cardiac myxomas, and 3 had liver disease. Conclusion: Pediatric patients with CNC may present with FTT whose primary cause is variable and includes CS due to PPNAD, hepatic involvement, and other manifestations of CNC. FTT due to liver disease and/or other causes is a unique new presentation of this rare syndrome with which clinicians need to be familiar.

The epithelioid blue nevus has recently been associated with the Carney complex, which is characterized by myxomas, spotty skin pigmentation, endocrine overactivity, and schwannomas. Using the general criteria proposed by Carney and Ferreiro, similar lesions were identified in 33 patients with no evidence of the Carney complex. Those lesions presented on the face, trunk and extremities of 15 males and 18 females. The mean age was 35 years, much older than those in the Carney complex (mean 16.3 years). Clinical diagnoses included malignant blue nevus, atypical nevus, melanoma, congenital nevus, and dermatofibroma. The lesions were symmetric, predominantly dermal melanocytic proliferations arranged as short fascicles, small nests, and single cells. Large polygonal and epithelioid melanocytes with moderate pleomorphism, and occasional nuclear pseudoinclusions were admixed with heavily pigmented dendritic and spindled melanocytes and melanophages. Rare mitotic figures were seen in some cases. The neoplasms showed a morphologic spectrum that encompassed a group of combined blue nevi with epithelioid melanocytes and other Spitz's nevus characteristics. These epithelioid combined nevi (ECN) fell into three phenotypes with morphologies that most closely paralleled those pictured by Carney and Ferreiro in the Carney complex: the classic or Carney complex pattern (ECN-CC), those that showed overlap with deep penetrating nevus (ECN-DPN), and those that have many dermal Spitz's nevus features, [BLue + SpITZ's nevus; (ECN-BLITZ)I. In six cases, there was such an admixture of features that it was difficult to ascribe them to one of the groups. Nine lesions had associated banal congenital nevus. Follow-up that averaged over 2.5 years (31 months) (range 6-162 months) showed no evidence of malignancy or recurrent disease after excision. Epithelioid combined nevus is a type of combined nevus with blue nevus and Spitz's nevus features, which may or may not be associated with the Carney complex. It shows morphologic overlap with the epithelioid blue nevus described by Carney (ECN-CC), deep penetrating nevus (ECN-DPN), and blue nevus with intradermal Spitz's (desmoplastic) nevus (ECN-BLITZ). Epithelioid combined nevus is thought to be a fitting nosologic designation for all of these lesions.

Initially described as the 'complex of myxomas, spotty skin pigmentation and endocrine overactivity,' Carney complex (CNC) is known as an autosomal dominant multiple neoplasia syndrome involving skin and cardiac myxomas, pigmented skin lesions and endocrine tumors. Pigmented cutaneous manifestations in CNC are important diagnostically because they can be used for the early detection of the disease and, thus, the prevention of life-threatening complications of CNC related to heart myxomas and endocrine abnormalities. Specific for the disease skin lesions are present in more than half of the CNC patients. A major challenge is to distinguish pigmented skin lesions associated with CNC from other skin pathology, and thus accurately estimate the risk of cancer in affected patients; curiously, patients with CNC do not appear to have predisposition to skin cancers whereas this is not the case with other genetic syndromes associated with melanotic and other cutaneous lesions. In this paper, we review the current knowledge on cutaneous pathology associated with CNC and the most recent data on the molecular basis of the disease.

Patient: Male, 54-year-oldFinal Diagnosis: Carney complex (CNC)Symptoms: Cough • dyspnea • heart failure • lightheadedness • palpitationMedication: —Clinical Procedure: Mitral valve repair • open heart surgery • transesophageal echocardiogram • transthoracic echocardiogramSpecialty: Cardiac Surgery • Cardiology • Endocrinology and Metabolic • GeneticsObjective:Rare diseaseBackground:Intracardiac tumors are a rare entity, with myxomas being the most common among them (approximately 50% of intracardiac tumors). Up to 80% of myxomas originate within the left atrium and while most are incidental or isolated findings in asymptomatic patients, others may result in clinical manifestations of heart failure or emboli. Moreover, in some cases, myxomas can be part of a genetically inherited syndrome known as Carney complex (CNC), and present with varied phenotypes, including skin, endocrine, and neuroendocrine tumors.Case Report:We present a case of a 54-year-old male patient who presented with a several-month history of non-specific cough, dyspnea on exertion, and palpitations along with several skin tags, nevi, and nodules. He was found to have a retrocardiac density on chest X-ray, which was revealed to be a large left atrial myxoma on echocardiography. The myxoma was surgically excised and genetic testing for a mutation of the PRKAR1A gene (the most common mutation underlying CNC) was negative. However, 2 major clinical criteria for diagnosis of CNC were fulfilled based on cardiac myxoma and spotty skin pigmentation. In this report, we focus on the clinical manifestations of CNC, including guidance on tumor surveillance and genetic variants of CNC.Conclusions:While CNC is most commonly associated with an inactivating mutation of the PRKAR1A gene, it can be diagnosed clinically in the absence of an identifiable genetic mutation. In patients presenting with atypical cardiac tumors, the early recognition of cutaneous manifestations can raise the index of suspicion for CNC, which can facilitate early diagnosis, treatment, and initiation of surveillance for neoplasia development.

Carney complex presenting as subclinical Cushing syndrome in a child due to a novel Phosphodiesterase 11A mutation

Carney complex (CNC) is a multiple neoplasia syndrome characterised by endocrine tumours, spotty skin pigmentation, cardiac and other myxomas, psamommatous and pigmented schwannomas, large cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumours, and mammary ductal adenomas and other more rare lesions. CNC is inherited in an autosomal-dominant manner and has been mapped to at least two chromosomal loci. Patients who map to the CNC1 locus located on chromosome 17 carry inactivating mutations of the PRKAR1A gene that encodes the cAMP-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunit type 1-alpha (Kirschner et al., 2000). One gene responsible for type 2 (CNC2) is located on chromosome 2p16. Infertility in CNC can be caused by a number of factors; there is evidence that prkar1a deficiency in mice leads directly to infertility (Burton et al., 2006), but patients with CNC also have Sertoli cell tumours and a number of other reasons to affect fertility. We report on an infertile male with CNC and present evidence that male infertility should be considered as part of the phenotype of CNC.

The Carney complex (CNC) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by endocrine and nonendocrine tumors. Loss-of-function variants of protein kinase A regulatory subunit 1 alpha (PRKAR1A) are common causes of CNC. Here, we present the case of a patient with CNC with a novel PRKAR1A missense variant. A 21-year-old woman was diagnosed with CNC secondary to acromegaly and adrenal Cushing syndrome. Genetic analysis revealed a novel missense heterozygous variant of PRKAR1A (c.176A>T). Her relatives, suspected of having CNC, also carried the same variant. RNA analysis revealed that this variant led to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. In vitro functional analysis of the variant confirmed its role in increasing protein kinase A activity and cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels. This study broadens our understanding of the genetic spectrum of CNC. We suggest that PRKAR1A genetic testing and counseling be recommended for patients with CNC and their families.

Cardiac myxomas are rare tumors. They usually appear as a sporadic isolated condition in the left atrium of middle-aged women with no other coincidental pathology. Carney and others have described in young people a special complex group of cardiac myxomas associated to a distinctive complex pathology, giving identity to the "Syndrome Myxoma" or "Carney's Syndrome". Four additional cases of this syndrome, treated from 1977 to 1999 at the Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile are presented here with a comprehensive review of the literature, accumulating 100 cases. The main features of our cases include the presence of malignant non cardiac tumors, a familial trend, follow-up of 23 years and an iterative recurrence in the elder case. To date all patients are tumor free. Reviewing the literature, patients with Carney's Syndrome were younger, with a mean age of 26 years and female predominance (62%). Cardiac myxomas affected the four chambers of the heart: 64% the left atrium; 44% the right atrium; 14% the left ventricle and 12% the right ventricle. They were multiple tumors in 41% and involved more than one chamber in 31%, being synchronous or metachronous. There was a marked familial trend (52%), a high incidence of recurrence (20%), with more than one occurring in half the cases. Extra-cardiac involvement consisted of: 68% pigmented skin lesions, 40% cutaneous myxomas, 37% adrenal cortical disease, 27% myxoid mammary fibroadenoma and 34% male patients with testes tumors. A low percentage had pituitary adenoma, melanotic schwannomas and thyroid disease. The diagnosis is made when two or more of these criteria are present. In agreement with these findings the four chambers of the heart should be examined at surgery for atypical myxoma locations, right atriotomy and combined superior-transseptal approach improve exposure of the cavities, careful screening of the first degree family members should be conducted, and closed short and long term follow up controls are important. Complex myxoma appears as a multi-systemic disorder, occasionally having an ominous prognosis and malignant potentiality, and is still undergoing investigation for better understanding and identification.

A subset of superficial angiomyxomas contains epithelial elements. Rarely, especially in Carney's complex patients, arborizing adnexal proliferations are present, with some authors proposing that they could be authentic adnexal neoplasms. Our aim was to determine if the epithelial elements are trapped adnexal epithelium, epithelial outgrowths triggered by myxoid tumour cells or genuinely neoplastic. We studied the clinicopathological and immunophenotypic features (immunohistochemistry and double immunofluorescence) of 43 superficial angiomyxomas, including one from a Carney's complex patient. We found hair follicle placode/germ formation in 7 cases; elongated and/or branched eccrine elements in 4 cases and solid/cystic infundibular-like hyperplastic epithelium in 10 cases. S100A4-positive mesenchymal condensates surrounded follicular and eccrine epithelial buds close to myxoid tumour cells, but only the latter showed variable PRKAR1A loss. In the Carney's complex case, prominent eccrine duct branching was found mimicking fibrofolliculoma, with vimentin-positive cell aggregates connecting and integrating with the pre-existing epithelium. By double immunofluorescence, they showed cytokeratin and E-cadherin immunoreactivity while still expressing vimentin as evidence of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition. Our results suggest that adnexal epithelial elements reproduce their embryogenesis through the involvement of S100A4-positive mesenchymal niches in both follicular and eccrine elements. These niches are close to myxoid cells with PRKAR1A loss, whereas the complex epithelial structures retain PRKAR1A, which suggests that the former induce non-neoplastic growth of the latter. Finally, we provide evidence for the role of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition in the branching of the eccrine duct epithelium in the Carney's complex case, probably secondary to protein kinase A activation.

Cardiac myxomas are rare tumors that may be encountered sporadically or in the context of the Carney complex. The molecular basis for the development of cardiac myxomas and Carney complex tumors is unclear. Pathological myocardial function and myocardial hypertrophy have been associated with alterations in the heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins. The postulated proto-oncogenic character of the gene encoding the alpha sub-unit of the stimulatory GTP-binding protein Gs alpha (gsp) in pituitary and thyroid tumors, the finding of identical somatic gsp mutations in the myocardium of patients with McCune-Albright syndrome, and the associated endocrine anomalies of the Carney complex prompted us to investigate the occurrence of activating missense mutations in the Gs alpha gene in 10 sporadically occurring atrial myxomas and in 8 tumors from 7 patients with Carney complex. No gsp mutations could be demonstrated by using the polymerase chain reaction and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis complemented by direct DNA sequencing. Thus, activating Gs alpha mutations neither are associated with the development of atrial myxomas, nor can be demonstrated in other tumors from patients with Carney complex. The significance of these mutations in the myocardium of asymptomatic patients with McCune-Albright syndrome remains to be determined.

Carney complex is a multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome, commonly affecting the thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary glands. In addition to endocrine involvement, tumors and myxomas may develop including cardiac myxomas and schwannomas. Approximately 70% of cases result from autosomal dominant germline mutation, with the remaining 30% representing de novo spontaneous mutations. Carney complex remains extremely rare, with only approximately 750 cases reported worldwide since 1985. We present an adolescent with Carney complex who underwent left atrial myxoma resection, followed by bilateral adrenalectomy a few years later. The perioperative implications of Carney complex are presented, previous reports of anesthetic care in these patients reviewed, and options for anesthetic management discussed.