Mutational analysis of STK11 gene in ovarian carcinomas

Recently STK11, the causative gene of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) was iden tified on chromosome 19p13.3. PJS is often accompanied by several malignanc ies, including breast tumor, adenoma malignum of the uterine cervix, and ov arian tumor. To investigate the involvement of STK11 gene in the developmen t of ovarian carcinomas, we analyzed 30 ovarian carcinomas for loss of hete rozygosity (LOH) and STK11 gene mutations. We found one missense mutation ( codon 281, Pro to Leu) with heterozygous and somatic status. This mutation occurred at codon 281, which lies within the mutational hot spot (codon 279 -281) of STK11 gene previously reported in PJS. We also detected LOH in 2 ( 11%) of 19 informative ovarian carcinomas. Our results suggest that mutatio ns of the STK11 gene may play a limited role in the development of ovarian carcinomas.