Over-expression of ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 2 in human endometrial cancer.
Gynecologic cancers including cancers of the endometrium are a clinical problem (1-4). We mined published and public microarray data (5, 6) to discover genes associated with endometrial cancers by comparing transcriptomes of the normal endometrium and endometrial tumors from humans. We identified ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 2, encoded by ORMDL2, as among the most differentially expressed genes, transcriptome-wide, in cancers of the endometrium. ORMDL2 was expressed at significantly higher levels in endometrial tumor tissues as compared to the endometrium. Importantly, in human endometrial cancer, primary tumor expression of ORMDL2 was correlated with overall survival in white patients with low mutational burden. ORMDL2 may be a molecule of interest in understanding the etiology or progression of human endometrial cancer.