THE CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF K-RAS POINT MUTATION AND GENEAMPLIFICATION IN ENDOMETRIAL CANCER

The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence and clinicopatholo gical significance of K-RAS oncogene activation in endometrial carcino ma and atypical hyperplasia. We analysed K-RAS point mutation and gene amplification in 55 endometrial carcinomas using polymerase chain rea ction associated with restriction fragment length polymorphism and gen omic differential polymerase chain reaction. Point mutations at codon 12 of K-RAS oncogene were identified in 8 of 55 (14.5%) tumour specime ns. In addition, we were unable to detect any K-RAS gene amplification in any of the endometrial carcinomas studied. No correlation was foun d between K-RAS gene mutation and age at onset, histological subtype, grade of differentiation, clinical stage or current patient status. We conclude that K-RAS mutation is a relatively common event in endometr ial carcinomas, but with no clear prognostic value. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.