Expression And Correlation Of Tumor-Suppressor Genes PTEN,BRCA1 In Type I Endometrial Carcinoma And Hyperplasia

OBJECTIVE: To determine the potential role of PTEN and BRCA1 expression in the early diagnosis and prognosis of type I endometrial carcinoma. METHOD: Expression of PTEN and BRCA1 was detected by immunohistochemical staining SP method.RESULTS: Loss of PTEN protein expression was significant in type I endometrial carcinoma and atypical hyperplasia. In type I endometrial carcinoma PTEN-staining status was associated with patient age, histologic grade and myometrial invasion. The survival rate for PTEN-positive cases was significantly higher than that for PTEN-negative cases. Loss of BRCA1 protein expression was not significant in type I endometrial carcinoma and atypical hyperplasia. BRCAl-staining status was not associated with patient age, histologic grade and myometrial invasion in type I endometrial carcinoma. Loss of PTEN expression was not significantly correlated with that of BRCA1 expression in type I endometrial carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of PTEN mutations in atypical hyperplasia suggests that PTEN inactivation may occur as an initiating event in typeI endometrial carcinogenesis. PTEN-positive staining is a significant prognostic indicator of favorable survival for patients with advanced typeI endometrial cancer. The loss of BRCA1 expression may not be involved in the development of sporadic type I endometrial carcinoma.