Uterine Cancer: Mutations Associated With Cancer Found in Endometriosis Women's Health Cancer

A study out in the New England Journal of Medicine is linking endometriosis with cancer. Findings from the study have identified cancer-related mutations in tissue taken from patients with deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE), a non-cancerous tissue.

The joint study between Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, and the University of British Columbia, analyzed DIE lesions from a combined 27 patients from both New York City and Japan. Researchers sequenced the exome of healthy tissue and endometriosis tissue and found in 19 out of 24 samples one or more mutations in the endometriosis tissue that were not present in the corresponding normal tissue of the same patients. Researchers concluded that DIE lesions, which virtually have no risk of malignant transformation, do contain somatic cancer driver mutations, which are in fact operators for cell growth and survival.

"The study proved what I have long suspected,” said Dr. Tamer Seckin founder of the Seckin Endometriosis Center and the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA). "This is the first time that it has been demonstrated in a benign tissue that these cancer driver genes co-exist. In the past, we only identified mutations in cancer tissue. This study is the first time we see mutation sites in non-cancerous tissue.” He says the study will open doors to further studies to confirm similar or more definitive findings and that there may be markers that are unique to cancer-developing attributes to some endometriosis cases.

For more information on the study visit endofound.org and endonews.com.  

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