B. G. Lindeque

A possible role of the cytochrome P450c17α gene (CYP17) polymorphism in the pathobiology of uterine leiomyomas from black South African women: a pilot study

Background.  To investigate the role of the CYP17 gene promoter polymorphism in the pathobiology of uterine leiomyomas in African and Caucasian women.

Ethnic variations in Uterine leiomyoma biology are not caused by differences in myometrial Estrogen receptor alpha levels

Objective: Uterine leiomyomas develop in women of reproductive age and regress after menopause, suggesting that they grow in a steroid hormone-dependent fashion. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that symptomatic uterine leiomyomas occur at a twofold to threefold higher frequency in black women than in white women. The present study was designed to investigate a possible physiologic role of racial differences in the myometrial estrogen receptor alpha in this phenomenon. Methods: We compared the expression of the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor in myometrium by ligand-binding assay and the estrogen receptor alpha by real-time polymerase chain reaction in women from different ethnic backgrounds who have uterine leimyoma. Results: Estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor concentrations and estrogen receptor alpha transcription levels were not statistically different between ethnic backgrounds. Conclusion: Neither on a transcriptional nor on a protein level were there statistically relevant differences in steroid hormone receptor levels. A causative role for these receptors in the ethnic variation of leiomyoma biology seems unlikely.

Uterine carcinosarcoma with melanocytic differentiation.

A 65-year-old black woman was found to have a 3.0 cm endometrial tumor that was a carcinosarcoma with a major epithelial and a less prominent mesenchymal component. The latter was undifferentiated but one focus of chondroid differentiation was noted. The former showed papillary serous differentiation. Melanin pigment was observed in both epithelial and mesenchymal components. Staining with antisera to S100 protein and HMB-45 confirmed the presence of melanocytes. An endocervical focus of tumor also contained melanin. Electron-microscopic studies showed large tumor cells with an irregularly indented nucleus and abnormal giant cytoplasmic melanosomes. Only one case of uterine carcinosarcoma with melanocytic differentiation has been previously reported.