Familial Adenomatous Polyposis-associated Traditional Serrated Adenoma of the Small Intestine: A Clinicopathologic and Molecular Analysis

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an inherited cancer predisposition syndrome associated with numerous gastrointestinal tract adenomatous polyps, as well as gastric fundic gland polyps and pyloric gland adenomas in the upper gastrointestinal tract. While colonic FAP-associated traditional serrated adenomas (TSAs) have been reported in a few studies, small bowel FAP-associated adenomas with TSA morphology have not been characterized. This study describes the clinicopathologic and molecular findings of this type of adenoma in the small bowel of patients with FAP. We reviewed small bowel adenomas in 45 consecutive FAP patients to identify adenomas with zones showing slit-like serrations, cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm, ectopic crypt formation, and vesicular nuclei. Sporadic small bowel adenomas from 51 consecutive patients were also reviewed for adenomas with the same features. Of the 177 polyps from 45 FAP patients and 60 polyps from 51 nonsyndromic patients, 18 TSAs from 9 FAP patients (20%) and 10 TSAs from the sporadic group (19.6%) were identified. FAP patients presented at a younger age than nonsyndromic patients (median: 43 vs. 66; P=0.0048). FAP-associated TSAs were asymptomatic and smaller than sporadic TSAs (median size: 0.6 vs. 2.5 cm; P=0.00006). Immunostaining for β-catenin and testing for BRAF and KRAS mutations were performed in a subset of the cohort. Nuclear β-catenin was seen in 1 FAP-associated TSA and 3 nonsyndromic TSAs. All TSAs (FAP-associated and nonsyndromic) showed wild-type BRAF, while KRAS mutations were identified only in the nonsyndromic setting. In summary, small bowel FAP-associated and sporadic TSAs share a similar morphology, and the BRAF-serrated pathway does not contribute to their pathogenesis.