Clinicoprognostical features of endometrial cancer patients with somatic mtDNA mutations

Somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations have been found in a subset of endometrial cancers (EC) from different populations. We have investigated the relationship between mtDNA changes and clinical and pathological variables of women affected by EC. mtDNA mutations were detected both in early (3/32; 9%) and in advanced (1/8; 12%) stages of uterine tumors. However, patients carrying the mtDNA mutations or the normal mtDNA sequence had indistinguishable clinicopathological data, including age, clinical stage, histological grade and type or depth of myometrial invasion. It is noteworthy that mtDNA mutations were not detected in hyperplastic endometrial tissues or in ECs coexisting with hyperplasia, nor in a single case of endometrial stromal sarcoma. LOH at the tumor suppressor genes RB1 and TP53 as well as p16^INK4A alterations (LOH, gene deletion) were found in tumors carrying mtDNA mutations. These results suggest that somatic mtDNA mutations are detected in a subset of ECs, although they are unrelated to clinicopathological variables of cancer.