Tehran University Medical Journal

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Uterine smooth muscle tumors classified as leiomyoma, leiomyosarcoma and tumors with uncertain malignant potential. The leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma are separated tumors biologically. Uterine smooth muscle tumors with uncertain malignant potential include a group of tumors which are not specifically placed into two others groups which result in a serious problem in a way of their treatment. In the present study expression of marker "p16" in smooth muscle tumors of uterine and normal myometrium has been investigated.
Methods: The entire paraffin blocks related to hysterectomy cases with diagnosis of normal myometrium, leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma (3768 cases) available in pathology lab. in Shariati Hospital in Tehran, Iran from 1372 to 1387 were investigated. Among them 62 normal myometrium, 62 leiomyoma and 12 leiomyosarcoma had been chosen and after staining for marker "p16" were investigated separately.
Results: There were a statistically significant difference in both intensity and percentage of staining for this marker between leiomyoma and leiomiosarcoma (p< 0.001) and between leiomyosarcoma and normal myometrium (p< 0.001) but not between leiomyoma and normal myometrium (p= 3.6).
Conclusion: Based on this study if strong and more than focal immunoreactivity for marker "p16" suppose as positive then leiomyosarcoma will be positive for this marker but leiomyoma and normal myometrium will not be and this could be considered as a good guide for categorizing the uterine smooth muscle tumors.