HIGH-INCIDENCE OF POINT MUTATION IN K-RAS CODON-12 IN CARCINOMA OF THE FALLOPIAN-TUBE

Background. Adenocarcinoma of the fallopian tube is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. Whether these carcinomas possess any genetic changes that contribute to their malignant behavior is unknown and to date fe w studies regarding the molecular pathogenesis of these tumors have be en reported. In adenocarcinoma of the endometrium, mutations in the fi rst exon of K-ras, although relatively infrequent, were observed to be an independent risk factor for poor clinical outcome. Methods. Eight patients with adenocarcinoma of the fallopian tube were examined for m utations in the 12th codon of K-ras. DNA was obtained from single sect ions of paraffin embedded tumor tissue and the first exon of Kras was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. Point mutations were assay ed using a nonradioactive restriction fragment length polymorphism tec hnique. Results. The eight patients in this study varied in clinical s tage from I-IV and were all treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Six of eight of the patients died and one of the surviving patients had m etastases in the vertebrae. K-ras point mutations were detected at cod on 12 in seven of the eight tumors (87.5%). Conclusions. K-ras mutatio ns occurred with high frequency in this series of eight patients with fallopian tube carcinoma, suggesting that mutations of this protooncog ene could play an important role in the molecular pathogenesis of this lesion.