Estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha) gene polymorphism in patients from the Lodz region of Poland with sporadic endometrial cancer.

Objective: Estrogens play a crucial role in the pathogenesis and progression of endometrial cancer. The gene ER-alpha is polymorphic and gene variability could contribute to the level of protein biosynthesis.

Methods: The aim of this study was to evaluate PvuII and XbaI polymorphism of the ER-alpha gene in 120 postmenopausal women with endometrial cancer in DNA samples obtained from cancer tissue. The polymorphisms were determined by PCR-RFLP methods.

Results: The distribution of the genotypes of PvuII and XbaI polymorphism of ER-alpha in both controls and patients did not differ significantly from those predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg distribution. There were no significant differences in genotype distributions and allele frequencies between subgroups assigned to histological stage.

Conclusions: The results suggest that the PvuII polymorphism of ER-alpha gene as well as XbaI polymorphism may not be linked with appearance and development of endometrial cancer.