1Institute of Molecular and Cellular Medicine, Odessa State Medical University,
Odessa, Ukraine 2Clinic of Odessa State Medical University, Odessa, Ukraine 3Division of Functional Genome Analysis, German Cancer Research Center,
Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract. Uterine leiomyoma is a most common benign neoplasm in women of reproductive age. It
arises from the myometrial compartment of the uterus and may transform in some cases to a
malignant phenotype. Aim: To identify the genes involved in pathogenesis of uterine
leiomyoma. Methods: We have studied differential gene expression in matched tissue samples
of leiomyoma and normal myometrium from the very same people utilizing a cDNA microarray
screening method. We also compared our results with previously published microarray data
to identify the overlapping gene alterations. Results: Based on this comparison we can
divide genes deregulated in our study into two groups. The first group comprises genes
that to our knowledge have not been previously reported as deregulated in fibroids: CLDN1,
FGF7 (KGF), HNRPM, ISOC1, MAGEC1 (CT7), MAPK12, RFC, TIE1, TNFRSF21 (DR6). The second
group consists of genes identified also in previous studies: CCND1 (BCL1), CDKN1A (P21),
CRABP2, FN1 and SOX4 (EVI16). In our study FN1 was the most up-regulated gene, occupying
the place between the myometrium and fibroids ranging from 2.07 to 3.64, depending of the
probe molecule used for detection. Conclusions: Newly identified genes may be regarded as
potential diagnostic or prognostic markers of uterine leiomyoma and thus may be very
useful as new therapeutic candidates.
