Noonan syndrome caused by germline KRAS mutation in Taiwan: report of two patients and a review of the literature

Noonan syndrome is a highly variable disorder that has significant phenotypic overlap with Costello syndrome and cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome. KRAS mutation was the second reported gene for Noonan syndrome. This study screened for mutation of the KRAS gene in 57 unrelated ethnic Chinese children suffering from Noonan syndrome without PTPN11 gene mutation in Taiwan. This work only identified two patients with different missense mutations (c.40G>A, p.Val14Ile; c.108A>G, p.Ile36Met) in the exon 1 of KRAS gene. This study also analyzed the characteristics of 34 reported cases involving KRAS mutations in the literature. All these patients presented with variable phenotypes, including Noonan syndrome (n = 19), cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome (n = 7), Costello syndrome (n = 6), and Noonan/cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome (n = 1). The phenotype of KRAS mutations was generally severe, including short stature, mental retardation, heart defects, etc. In conclusion, this investigation demonstrates that KRAS mutations are the cause in a minority of cases of Chinese patients with Noonan syndrome in Taiwan.