PTEN mutations in endometrial cancers with 10q LOH: Additional evidence for the involvement of multiple tumor suppressors

Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the involvement of PTEN and other putative 10q tumor suppressors in endometrioid-type adenocarcinomas characterized by loss of 10q sequences. Methods. PCR-based single-stranded conformational variant analysis and sequencing of individual PTEN exons in 34 tumor specimens and their corresponding normal DNA were used. Results. Thirteen of the 34 tumors (38%) revealed a PTEN mutation: 2 frameshift, 3 nonsense, 3 missense, 3 splice site alterations, and 2 homozygous deletions. Conclusion. The observation that greater than 60% of endometrial cancers with 10q LOH lack PTEN mutations, in addition to previously reported LOH data, provides evidence for the existence of other tumor suppressors on 10q. Consideration of PTEN mutation status may prove important in deletion mapping studies to locate additional tumor suppressors on the long arm of chromosome 10.