Frequency and Spectrum of MED12 Exon 2 Mutations in Multiple Versus Solitary Uterine Leiomyomas From Russian Patients

Abstract

Uterine leiomyomas (ULs) are common benign tumors affecting women of different ethnicities. A large proportion of UL has mutations in MED12. Multiple and solitary ULs usually manifest with different severities, suggesting that their origin and growth pattern may be driven by different molecular mechanisms. Here, we compared the frequency and the spectrum of MED12 exon 2 mutations between multiple (n=82) and solitary (n=40) ULs from Russian patients. Overall, we detected MED12 exon 2 mutations in 51.6% (63/122) of ULs. The frequency of MED12 exon 2 mutations was almost two-fold higher in samples from the multiple UL patients than in those from the solitary UL patients - 61% (50/82) versus 32.5% (13/40). The increased MED12 exon 2 mutation frequency in the multiple ULs was not accompanied by significant alterations in the spectrum of mutation categories, which included missense mutations, deletions, splicing defects, and multiple (double/triple) mutations. Each mutation category had a unique mutation set, comprising both frequent and rarely encountered mutations, which did and did not overlap between the studied groups, respectively. We conclude that in contrast to the solitary ULs, the multiple ULs predominantly originate through MED12-associated mechanisms. The nature of these mechanisms seems to be similar in solitary and multiple ULs, as they contain similar mutations. In multiple UL patients, they are likely to be nonsporadic, indicating the existence of specific factors predisposing to multiple UL development. These data suggest that to clearly understand UL pathogenesis, solitary and multiple tumors should probably be analyzed as separate sets.