Abstract
We studied the expression of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes in human endometriosis in a retrospective pilot study. Sixteen patients with histologically verified pelvic endometriosis at the university-based tertiary care referral center were studied. Immunohistochemical determination of c-myc, c-erb-B2, nm23 and p53 expression in archival, paraffin-embedded pathological samples were used from patients operated upon for pelvic endometriosis. c-myc was expressed in 8/15 cases (53.3%). nm23 was expressed in 7/16 cases (43.7%). c-erb-B2 and p53 reactivity was undetectable in the samples studied. The c-myc oncogene and nm23 are overexpressed in many cases of endometriosis, and may play a still undefined role in its pathogenesis. Immuno-histochemistry is a useful tool for the study of oncogenic activation in this disease.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Biopsy
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Endometriosis / genetics
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Endometriosis / metabolism
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Endometriosis / pathology*
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Female
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Genes, Tumor Suppressor*
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Genes, erbB-2*
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Genes, myc*
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Genes, p53
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Humans
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Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins*
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NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases
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Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / analysis*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / biosynthesis
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Receptor, ErbB-2 / analysis*
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Receptor, ErbB-2 / biosynthesis
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Transcription Factors / analysis*
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Transcription Factors / biosynthesis
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Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / analysis
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Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / biosynthesis
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Uterine Diseases / genetics
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Uterine Diseases / metabolism
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Uterine Diseases / pathology*
Substances
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NM23 Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinases
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc
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Transcription Factors
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Tumor Suppressor Protein p53
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Receptor, ErbB-2
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NME1 protein, human
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Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase
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Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins