Insights into Clinical Disorders in Cowden Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review.

PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome (PHTS) encompasses diverse clinical phenotypes, including Cowden syndrome (CS), Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome (BRRS), Proteus syndrome (PS), and Proteus-like syndrome. This autosomal dominant genetic predisposition with high penetrance arises from heterozygous germline variants in the PTEN tumour suppressor gene, leading to dysregulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway, which promotes the overgrowth of multiple and heterogenous tissue types. Clinical presentations of CS range from benign and malignant disorders, affecting nearly every system within the human body. CS is the most diagnosed syndrome among the PHTS group, notwithstanding its weak incidence (1:200,000), for which it is considered rare, and its precise incidence remains unknown among other important factors. The literature is notably inconsistent in reporting the frequencies and occurrences of these disorders, adding an element of bias and uncertainty when looking back at the available research. In this review, we aimed to highlight the significant disparities found in various studies concerning CS and to review the clinical manifestations encountered in CS patients. Furthermore, we intended to emphasize the great significance of early diagnosis as patients will benefit from a longer lifespan while being unceasingly advised and supported by a multidisciplinary team.

Quantification of Proteus syndrome-associated lung disease.

BACKGROUND: Proteus syndrome is an ultra-rare mosaic overgrowth disorder. Individuals with Proteus syndrome can develop emphysematous and cystic changes of the lung that may lead to progressive respiratory symptoms and require surgical intervention. This retrospective study seeks to quantify the radiographic features of Proteus syndrome-associated lung disease using computed tomography (CT) of the chest. The first method derives a Cystic Lung Score (CLS) by using a computer-aided diagnostic tool to quantify the fraction of cystic involvement of the lung. The second method yields a Clinician Visual Score (CVS), an observer reported scale of severity based on multiple radiographic features. The aim of this study was to determine if these measurements are associated with clinical symptoms, pulmonary function test (PFT) measurements, and if they may be used to assess progression of pulmonary disease. RESULTS: One hundred and thirteen imaging studies from 44 individuals with Proteus syndrome were included. Dyspnea and oxygen use were each associated with higher CLS (p = 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively) and higher CVS (p < 0.001 and < 0.001). Decreases in percent predicted FVC, FEV1, and DLCO each correlated with increased CLS and CVS. The annual increase of CLS in children, 5.6, was significantly greater than in adults, 1.6. (p = 0.03). The annual increase in CVS in children, 0.4, was similar to adults, 0.2 (p = 0.36). CONCLUSIONS: Proteus syndrome-associated lung disease is progressive. The rate of cystic progression is increased in children. Increased scores in CLS and CVS were associated with clinical symptoms and decreased pulmonary function. Both methods were able to detect change over time and were associated with clinically meaningful outcomes which may enable their use in interventional studies.

Optic nerve compression: a rare ocular manifestation of Proteus syndrome.

Proteus syndrome is characterized by progressive, asymmetric, and distorting overgrowth that involves the skeletal, cutaneous, subcutaneous, and nervous systems. We report the case of a 10-year-old girl with Proteus syndrome and a constellation of ocular signs, including congenital glaucoma, myopia, amblyopia, strabismus, megaloglobus, epibulbar tumors, and right retinal detachment. A decrease in left eye visual acuity coupled with significant deterioration in visual evoked potential response over time prompted urgent neuroimaging, which revealed massive overgrowth of the sphenoid bone, with bilateral optic nerve compression due to optic canal stenosis. Successful removal of the roof of the optic canal along its entire course resulted in optic nerve decompression.

Ophthalmic manifestations and treatments of proteus syndrome: a case report and systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Proteus syndrome (PS) is an extremely rare disorder with ocular manifestations. In this study, we aimed to describe the ophthalmic characteristics and the clinical course of an unusual PS patient to acquire a comprehensive and intensive understanding of ocular PS and highlight the importance of collaborative treatment by ophthalmologists. CASE PRESENTATION: A case of PS with atypical ocular features and syndromes was observed in a Chinese female. Her proptosis and vision impairment were relieved after Endoscope-Navigation system (ENS)-aided optic canal decompression. A 1.5-year follow-up showed that the treatment was temporarily effective, but the disease continued to develop. A review of the literature was conducted: forty-eight patients met the inclusion criteria. Although ocular manifestations play important roles in PS diagnosis, only a limited number of cases have been reported to have ocular abnormalities. And to date, almost none of these reports have described the treatment in detail. Therefore, PS patients with ocular manifestations were reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: PS is a complex disorder with variable characteristics and progressive imbalances. In this paper, the clinical symptoms, molecular characteristics, and differential diagnosis of PS are introduced. More importantly, the ocular manifestations, treatment, and prognosis of PS cases to date are summarized and discussed. This study aimed to acquire a comprehensive and intensive understanding of ocular PS and to reveal the importance of collaborative treatment by ophthalmologists.

Proteus Syndrome: A Rare Disease Of Disproportionate And Asymmetric Overgrowth Of Connective Tissue.

Proteus syndrome is a rare disease manifested by progressive segmental overgrowth involving the skeletal, Cutaneous, subcutaneous, and nervous systems. We report the case of a 24-year-old female who was born with no obvious abnormality at birth. From the age of 1 year, she developed asymmetric enlargement of her left upper limb and bilateral lower limbs leading to enlargement of the right-hand phalanges with radial deviation, enlargement of the right big toe, lateral deviation of left foot, and discrepancy in the length of lower extremities and kyphoscoliosis. She had become bed-bound for the last few years due to increasing disability. She was diagnosed with Proteus syndrome based on clinical features of progressive course, mosaic distribution, and sporadic occurrence of the lesions.

Co-occurrence of Proteus syndrome and ventricular tachycardia cardiac arrest in a teenager.

Proteus syndrome is an extremely rare overgrowth condition caused by a somatic variant of the AKT1 gene. It can involve multiple organ systems though rarely is there symptomatic cardiac involvement. Fatty infiltration of the myocardium has been described but has not been reported to cause functional or conduction abnormalities. We present an individual with Proteus syndrome who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

Multimodal ocular imaging in Proteus syndrome.

In this report we illustrate the ophthalmologic assessment of two patients affected by Proteus Syndrome (PS), an extremely rare genetic disorder. Case #1 describes a 26 year old male patient followed for multiple ophthalmic anomalies: a limbal dermoid cyst, a unilateral cataract, bilateral nystagmus, severe myopia and unilateral optic nerve head drusen. Case #2 describes a 20 year old female patient referred to our Ophthalmology Department for a routine ophthalmologic evaluation after being treated for 3 years with Miransertib (an experimental AKT-pathway inhibitor). Both patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination and a multimodal imaging evaluation. The multimodal imaging approach has revealed useful to evaluate both cases in detail and to keep track of disease evolution over time, moreover providing helpful features to further characterize this rare syndrome.

Phenotypic Features of Cystic Lung Disease in Proteus Syndrome: A Clinical Trial.

Rationale: Limited information is available regarding cystic lung disease in Proteus syndrome, a rare overgrowth disorder caused by a somatic activating variant in AKT1. Objectives: To define the phenotype of cystic lung disease in Proteus syndrome. Methods: Medical records, pulmonary function tests, and chest computed tomography of 39 individuals with Proteus syndrome evaluated at a single center were retrospectively reviewed. Lung histopathology from five affected individuals was examined. Results: Cystic lung disease affected 26 (67%) of 39 individuals. The mean age of affected individuals was 17.1 years. The lung cysts varied in size and location. Focal regions of heterogeneous lung parenchyma resembling emphysema were found in 81% of affected individuals. Mass effect was seen in 12% of affected individuals; pneumothorax occurred in one. Dyspnea and respiratory infections were reported by 38% and 35% of affected individuals, respectively. Abnormal pulmonary function and scoliosis were found in 96% of affected individuals. Lung disease progressed in seven of 10 affected individuals, and all five affected individuals younger than 20 years of age had progressive cystic lung disease. Three affected individuals had symptomatic improvement after lung resection. Histopathology showed cystic air space enlargement of varying severity. Conclusions: Cystic lung disease is common in Proteus syndrome and is likely to progress in affected individuals younger than 20 years of age. Screening asymptomatic individuals with Proteus syndrome for cystic lung disease is indicated. Surgical lung resection is a therapeutic option for affected individuals with severe disease. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00001403).

Progressive frontal intraosseous lipoma: Detection of the mosaic AKT1 variant discloses Proteus syndrome.

Proteus syndrome is a very rare disorder with progressive, asymmetrical, and disproportionate overgrowth of body parts with a highly variable phenotype. It is associated with mosaicism for the recurrent heterozygous somatic gain-of-function variant c.49G>A (p.Glu17Lys) in the protein kinase AKT1. We report on a girl with a progressive intraosseous lipoma of the frontal bone and additional, nonspecific features including mild developmental delay, strabism, and a limbal dermoid of the left eye. She did not fulfill the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of Proteus syndrome. However, mutation analysis of AKT1 in a lipoma biopsy revealed this specific activating variant. Several cases of progressive intraosseous lipoma of the frontal bone have been reported in the literature. Only in two of these observations, a tentative diagnosis of Proteus syndrome was made, based on additional clinical features, although without molecular-genetic verification. We conclude that oligosymptomatic Proteus syndrome should be considered in progressive intraosseous lipoma, as recognition of this diagnosis has relevant implications for genetic counseling and opens novel treatment options with AKT1 inhibitors rather than surgical procedures.

Late-onset Proteus syndrome with cerebriform connective tissue nevus and subsequent development of intraductal papilloma.

Proteus syndrome (PS) is a rare segmental overgrowth disorder caused by a mosaic activating variant in AKT1. The features of PS are often not present at birth but develop during the first few years of life. We describe a 55-year-old female, whose first symptom of overgrowth, a cerebriform connective tissue nevus, occurred at 19 years of age. We report the identification of the AKT1 c.49G > A p.(Glu17Lys) variant in this progressive lesion, the bony overgrowth, and recurrence after surgical intervention. In the sixth decade of life, this individual developed intraductal papillomas within her right breast which were confirmed to contain the same activating AKT1 variant as the connective tissue nevus. While similar neoplasms have been described in an individual with Proteus syndrome, none has been evaluated for the presence of the AKT1 variant. The tumor also contained two likely pathogenic variants in PIK3R1, c.1392_1403dupTAGATTATATGA p.(Asp464_Tyr467dup) and c.1728_1730delGAG p.(Arg577del). The finding of additional genetic variation putatively affecting the PI3K/AKT pathway in the neoplastic tissue may provide preliminary evidence of a molecular mechanism for tumorigenesis in PS. The late onset of symptoms and molecular characterization of the breast tumor expand the clinical spectrum of this rare disorder.

Development of the Clinical Gestalt Assessment: a visual clinical global impression scale for Proteus syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Clinical outcome assessments are important tools for measuring the natural history of disease and efficacy of an intervention. The heterogenous phenotype and difficult to quantity features of Proteus syndrome present challenges to measuring clinical outcomes. To address these, we designed a global clinical assessment for Proteus syndrome, a rare mosaic overgrowth disorder. The Clinical Gestalt Assessment (CGA) aims to evaluate change over time in this phenotypically diverse disorder. RESULTS: We gathered paired serial photographs and radiographs obtained at 12-to-36-month intervals from our natural history study of Proteus syndrome. The chronologic order of each set was blinded and presented to clinicians familiar with overgrowth disorders. They were asked to determine the chronologic order and, based on that response, rate global clinical change using a seven-point scale (Much Worse, Worse, Minimally Worse, No Change, Minimally Improved, Improved, Much Improved). Following a pilot, we tested the inter-rater reliability of the CGA using eight cases rated by eight clinicians. Raters identified the correct chronologic order in 53 of 64 (83%) of responses. There was low inter-rater variance and poor to moderate reliability with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.46 (95% CI 0.24-0.75). The overall estimate of global change was Minimally Worse over time, which is an accurate reflection of the natural history of Proteus syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: The CGA is a tool to evaluate clinical change over time in Proteus syndrome and may be a useful adjunct to measure clinical outcomes in prospective therapeutic trials.

Proteus Syndrome: Case Report with Anatomopathological Correlation.

Background: Proteus syndrome is characterized by a progressive segmental or patchy growth of bone, skin, adipose tissue, and central nervous system, associated with a wide range of neoplasms, pulmonary pathology, and thrombotic risk. The main histological findings are diffuse patchy overgrowth of skin and subcutaneous tissue, plantar cerebriform connective tissue nevus, and ossification defects. Case report: We present a patient that met the clinical and histological criteria necessary for the diagnosis of the disease. He required multiple surgical interventions, including amputation of the right foot. Genetic evaluation confirmed an AKT1 mutation. Discussion: CLOVES syndrome, neurofibromatosis 1 or PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome are partially superimposable entities to Proteus syndrome and may generate diagnostic doubt. Although the clinical criteria and histologic findings are indicative, the diagnostic confirmation of this entity is genetic.

Dermatologic findings in individuals with genetically confirmed Proteus syndrome.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Proteus syndrome, caused by a mosaic activating AKT1 variant, typically presents in toddlers with progressive, asymmetric overgrowth of the skin and bones. We aimed to define the spectrum of dermatologic disease in individuals with genetically confirmed Proteus syndrome. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of records from dermatologic examinations of individuals evaluated at the NIH with a molecular diagnosis of Proteus syndrome. The types, prevalence, and localization of dermatologic findings were assessed. RESULTS: Fifty-one individuals (29 males, 22 females, mean age: 9 years) with clinical features of Proteus syndrome had the mosaic c.49G>A, p.Glu17Lys AKT1 variant. Fifty (98%) had at least one cutaneous feature constituting current clinical diagnostic criteria, including vascular malformations in 42 (82%), epidermal nevus in 41 (80%), volar cerebriform connective tissue nevi in 34 (67%), and adipose dysregulation in 30 (59%). Forty-nine (96%) had at least one dermatologic finding not included within the diagnostic criteria, including confluent volar skin-colored to hypopigmented papules or nodules (n = 33, 65%), papules or nodules on the digits or face (n = 27, 53%), and nonlinear epidermal nevi (n = 15, 29%). Other frequently observed features include nail changes (n = 28, 55%), hyperpigmented macules (n = 27, 53%), patchy dermal hypoplasia (n = 18, 35%), gingival/oral mucosal overgrowth (n = 17, 33%), hypopigmented macules (n = 16, 31%), dental enamel changes (n = 9, 18%), acrochordons (n = 6, 12%), and lingual overgrowth (n = 4, 8%). CONCLUSIONS: The range of mucocutaneous features occurring in Proteus syndrome is broader than previously considered. These observations may assist in earlier diagnosis and management and provide novel insights regarding the pathogenesis of the condition.

Phenotype and Surgical Treatment in a Case of Proteus Syndrome With Craniofacial and Oral Findings.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Proteus syndrome is a sporadic disease that is particularly noticeable due to the disproportional growth of body segments. The disease is a genetic mosaic. The mutations can arise from any of the germ layers, an explanation of the very variable phenotype. The aim of this report is to communicate the diagnosis and management of an unusual case of Proteus Syndrome with special attention to oral and craniofacial findings. CASE REPORT: A 15-year-old patient was referred for surgical treatment of pronounced skull malformations and correction of oral mucosal hyperplasia. Treatment caused significant improvement in facial appearance and oral soft tissue conditions. CONCLUSION: Surgical measures adapted to the local findings and symptoms can often relieve severe disfigurement of the patient.

Cardiothoracic imaging findings of Proteus syndrome.

In this work, we sought to delineate the prevalence of cardiothoracic imaging findings of Proteus syndrome in a large cohort at our institution. Of 53 individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of Proteus syndrome at our institution from 10/2001 to 10/2019, 38 individuals (men, n = 23; average age = 24 years) underwent cardiothoracic imaging (routine chest CT, CT pulmonary angiography and/or cardiac MRI). All studies were retrospectively and independently reviewed by two fellowship-trained cardiothoracic readers. Disagreements were resolved by consensus. Differences between variables were analyzed via parametric and nonparametric tests based on the normality of the distribution. The cardiothoracic findings of Proteus syndrome were diverse, but several were much more common and included: scoliosis from bony overgrowth (94%), pulmonary venous dilation (62%), band-like areas of lung scarring (56%), and hyperlucent lung parenchyma (50%). In addition, of 20 individuals who underwent cardiac MRI, 9/20 (45%) had intramyocardial fat, mostly involving the endocardial surface of the left ventricular septal wall. There was no statistically significant difference among the functional cardiac parameters between individuals with and without intramyocardial fat. Only one individual with intramyocardial fat had mildly decreased function (LVEF = 53%), while all others had normal ejection fraction.

Hypertrichotic patches as a mosaic manifestation of Proteus syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Proteus syndrome is an overgrowth disorder caused by a mosaic activating AKT1 variant. Hair abnormalities in Proteus syndrome have rarely been reported, and frequencies of such findings have not been elucidated. OBJECTIVE: To define the types and frequencies of hair findings in individuals with Proteus syndrome. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted of individuals with clinical features of Proteus syndrome and a confirmed pathogenic variant in AKT1 evaluated between November 1996 and June 2019 at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Medical records were reviewed for patterning, density, and color of hair on the body and scalp. RESULTS: Of 45 individuals evaluated, 29 (64%) had asymmetric hypertrichosis on the body. This included unilateral blaschkoid hypertrichotic patches overlying normal skin or epidermal nevi in 16 (36%), unilateral nonblaschkoid hypertrichotic patches in 11 (24%), and unilateral limb hypertrichosis in 10 (22%). Diffuse, scattered, or patchy changes in scalp hair density or color were present in 11 individuals (24%). LIMITATIONS: The retrospective, observational design, and limited longitudinal follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Asymmetric variations in hair distribution, thickness, length, and color contribute to the overall mosaic appearance of the skin in Proteus syndrome, an observation that provides novel insights into the role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT) signaling in skin appendage development.