Mutation of the SRC gene in endometrial carcinoma

Recently, an activating mutation of the SRC gene has been implicated in abo ut one-tenth of advanced colon cancers. The SRC 531 mutation results in tru ncation of SRC directly C-terminal to the regulatory Tyr 530 and appears to activate the Tyr 530, To investigate whether mutation of SRC plays an impo rtant role in the development and progression of gynecological tumors, we p erformed mutational analysis of the entire coding region of SRC in 70 ovari an carcinomas, 68 endometrial carcinomas and 3 endometrial stromal sarcomas by means of polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorph ism (PCR-SSCP) followed by nucleotide sequencing and restriction fragment L ength polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. We found one truncated mutation at codo n 531 (Gln to Stop) in an endometrial carcinoma. However, we found no mutat ion of this gene in ovarian carcinoma or endometrial stromal sarcoma. Our r esults suggest that mutation of SRC may be implicated in a small proportion of endometrial carcinomas.