Analysis of the purified RNA samples to confirm that Notch pathway activation inhibits apoptosis in uterine leiomyomas leading to fibroid growth. Homo sapiens

Uterine leiomyomas are the most common benign tumor in humans causing significant morbidity with vaginal bleeding, pelvic pressure and pain. Histologically, leiomyomas show a large degree of extracellular matrix disorganization. I am working with a colleague who recently found Notch pathway gene expression were clearly altered in fibroids (“Differential expression of the Notch signal transduction pathway: ligands, receptors and Numb in uterine leiomyomas vs. myometrium,” G. Christman, H. Tang, I. Ahmad, J. Stribley, Fertility and Sterility, Volume 88, Supp 1, S72, September 2007). Glycosaminoglycan expression was found to be over-expressed in uterine leiomyomas compared to myometrial samples (Fertility and Sterility, Vol 88 Supp 1, S106, September, 2007), but glycosyltransferase and glycosidase expression has not been reported. We have purified RNA samples from paired uterine leiomyoma and normal myometrium from a previous clinical study. Dr. Domino's laboratory hypothesis is that Notch pathway activation inhibits apoptosis in uterine leiomyomas leading to fibroid growth. Notch ligands are fucosylated glycans. The bulk of a fibroid is the extracellular matrix yet little has been studied on leiomyocyte expression of enzymes that model glycans in the extracellular matrix. Overall design: RNA preparations of paired samples of excess human tissues from hysterectomies, with two different groups normal myometrium, and leiomyoma tumors were sent to Microarray Core (E). The RNA was amplified, labeled, and hybridized to GLYCO_v3 microarrays.