Identification of a YAC spanning the translocation breakpoints in uterine leiomyomata, pulmonary chondroid hamartoma, and lipoma: physical mapping of the 12q14-q15 breakpoint region in uterine leiomyomata.

Uterine leiomyomata are the most common tumors in women and can cause abnormal uterine bleeding, pelvic pain, and infertility. Approximately 200,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the U.S. to relieve patients of the medical sequelae of these benign neoplasms. Our efforts have focused on cloning the t(12;14)(q14-q15;q23-q24) breakpoint in uterine leiomyoma to further our understanding of the biology of these tumors. Thirty-nine YACs and six cosmids mapping to 12q14-q15 have been mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization to tumor metaphase chromosomes containing a t(12;14). One YAC spanned the translocation breakpoint and was mapped to tumor metaphases from a pulmonary chondroid hamartoma containing a t(12;14)(q14-q15;q23-q24) and a lipoma containing a t(12;15)(q15;q24); this YAC also spanned the breakpoint in these two tumors, suggesting that the same gene on chromosome 12 may be involved in the pathobiology of these distinct benign neoplasms.