MED12 mutation frequency in unselected sporadic uterine leiomyomas

To determine the frequency of mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) mutations in well-documented, prospectively collected, unselected series of sporadic uterine leiomyomas to better understand the contribution of MED12 mutations in leiomyoma genesis.

Mutation analysis of two prospectively collected sample series.

Department of gynecology in university hospital and medical genetics research laboratory.

164 uterine leiomyomas from 28 patients (13 consecutive and 15 unselected patients) undergoing hysterectomy.

MED12 mutation screening by direct sequencing, and clinical data collection.

MED12 mutation status and various clinical variables.

MED12 mutations were found in 73 (83.0%) of 88 and 65 (85.5%) of 76 of uterine leiomyomas from the consecutive and unselected patient series, respectively. Smaller tumor size and a larger number of tumors correlated with positive MED12 mutation status.

The frequency of MED12 mutations in our prospectively collected uterine leiomyoma sets was higher than in previous works. This is in keeping with the concept that MED12 mutation-positive tumors tend to be smaller in size than MED12 mutation-negative tumors. The results highlight the central role of MED12 mutations in uterine leiomyoma genesis.