Frequent aberration of the transforming growth factor-beta receptor II gene in cell lines but no apparent mutation in pre-invasive and invasive carcinomas of the uterine cervix.

The type II transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) receptor (RII) gene located at 3p22 plays an important role in regulating growth and differentiation of epithelium, including that of the uterine cervix. Loss-of-function mutations of RII have frequently been found in gastrointestinal cancers, with a replication-error (RER) phenotype characterized by the presence of microsatellite instability (MI). In this study, genomic PCR, SSCP and DNA sequencing were conducted to investigate the coding sequences of the RII gene in cell lines (n = 5) and tissues (n = 15) of squamous carcinomas of the uterine cervix. Intragenic deletions were noted in 2 of 5 cervical-cancer cell lines (ME180 and HeLa cells). However, no mutation, other than DNA polymorphisms, was found in 15 cervical cancers with either alleleic loss at 3p22 (n = 11) or MI (n = 4). Further analysis of squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) with (n = 12) or without (n = 4) MI for the (A)10 change, a prototypic mutation found in over 90% of RER-positive colon cancers, also showed no aberration. Our study concludes that the RII gene is frequently disrupted in cervical-cancer cell lines, but is rarely mutated in CC and SIL tissues, including those showing MI or alleleic loss at 3p22. The underlined mechanism of genomic instability in CC and SIL may thus differ from that of colorectal cancer. The allelic loss at 3p22-24 in CC does not involve the coding sequence of the RII gene. The non-coding sequence of RII or an unidentified gene may be responsible for it.