MMAC/PTEN gene expression in endometrial cancer: RT-PCR studies.

Mutations in the MMAC/PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10) gene are documented in cancers of the breast, prostate, ovary, colon, melanoma, glioblastoma, lymphoma and endometrium. In the present work MMAC/PTEN gene expression in women with endometrial adenocarcinoma (n=70) in RNA samples obtained from cancer tissue were investigated. Control DNA was obtained from 68 normal endometrial tissue. The MMAC/PTEN expression was determined by RT-PCR analysis. The expression of MMAC/PTEN gene in endometrial adenocarcinoma cases was significantly reduced compared to the expression in the normal samples (P < 0.05). Furthermore the significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed between the expression of MMAC/PTEN in stage III versus lower stages of endometrial cancer. The results support the hypothesis that the MMAC/PTEN gene expression may be associated with the incidence of endometrial cancer.