Analysis of gene alterations associated with endometrial cancers and the target of the gene therapy

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Recent advances in molecular biology have allowed us to study cancer at the level of individual genes. Such works have led to the theory of multistep carcinogenesis.The present study showed that activation of oncogenes, inactivation of tumor-suppresor genes, inactivation of mismatched-DNA repair genes and infection of human papillomavirus were closely involved in the carcinogenesis of uterine endometrium. Alterations of Ras, p53, DCC,P16, C-kit/SCF,RB were totally found in 17/26 (65%) G1 adenocarcinmas, 5/7 (71%) G2 adenocarcinomas and 12/13 (92%) G3 adenocarcinomas. However, the each abnormality of a single gene is quite low in its incidence.A frequent genetic change which takes place in carcinogenesis should be choosed as the target molecule of gene therapy. Our modified non-Rl TRAP (telomeric repeat amplification protocol) assay found that the telomerase activation was common (more than 90%) in endometrial cancer and was a critical step in their pathogenesis. Then, in the present time, the best target of gene therapy might be a telomerase molecule.