Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Uterine myomas are the most frequent benign uterine tumours of smooth muscle cells of myometrium. Myoma is the most common uterine tumours occurring in 20–30% of women during their reproductive years. Despite this common complication of benign tumours, in most cases there are barrier of natural fertility and pregnancy continuing. Therefore, to understanding better the genetic characteristics of myoma help us in the treatment and preventive measures in these cases. The protein product of the EPCR gene activates a part of the protein C anti-coagulation pathway. The purpose of this study is to examine EPCR 4600A>G (A3 haplotype) and its relationship with uterine myoma in affected Iranian women with myoma.

Methods: In this case–control study, 100 women with myoma and 100 healthy women were studied as controls and genotype distribution of polymorphism in EPCR gene was investigated through tetra-ARMS-PCR method and the test results were analysed using χ² test.

Results: EPCR gene polymorphism (rs867186) genotype frequencies were compared in the patients and control groups; the frequency of AA, AG, and GG genotypes were 19, 78, and 3% in the patients group and 37, 43, and 20% in the control groups respectively. Results showed that there was no significant difference between patients and control group (P=0.9).

Conclusion: The results of present study revealed that there is a possible association between the presence of C allele in EPCR gene polymorphism (rs867186) and risk of uterine myoma in Iranian population and suggests this variation as a predictor marker for estimating the risk of uterine myoma.