Over-expression of structural maintenance of chromosomes 4 in human endometrial cancer.
Gynecologic cancers including cancers of the endometrium are a clinical problem (1-4). We mined published 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 structural maintenance of chromosomes 4, encoded by SMC4, as among the most differentially expressed genes, transcriptome-wide, in cancers of the endometrium. SMC4 was expressed at significantly higher levels in endometrial tumor tissues as compared to the endometrium. Importantly, primary tumor expression of SMC4 was correlated with overall survival in patients with endometrial cancer. SMC4 may be a molecule of interest in understanding the etiology or progression of human endometrial cancer.