| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>MYH11 </it>(also known as <it>SMMHC</it>) encodes the smooth-muscle myosin heavy chain, which has a key role in smooth muscle contraction. Inversion at the <it>MYH11 </it>locus is one of the most frequent chromosomal aberrations found in acute myeloid leukemia. We have previously shown that <it>MYH11 </it>mutations occur in human colorectal cancer, and may also be associated with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. The mutations found in human intestinal neoplasia result in unregulated proteins with constitutive motor activity, similar to the mutant <it>myh11 </it>underlying the zebrafish <it>meltdown </it>phenotype characterized by disrupted intestinal architecture. Recently, <it>MYH1 </it>and <it>MYH9 </it>have been identified as candidate breast cancer genes in a systematic analysis of the breast cancer genome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The aim of this study was to investigate the role of somatic <it>MYH11 </it>mutations in two common tumor types; breast and prostate cancers. A total of 155 breast cancer and 71 prostate cancer samples were analyzed for those regions in <it>MYH11 </it>(altogether 8 exons out of 42 coding exons) that harboured mutations in colorectal cancer in our previous study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In breast cancer samples only germline alterations were observed. One prostate cancer sample harbored a frameshift mutation c.5798delC, which we have previously shown to result in a protein with unregulated motor activity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Little evidence for a role of somatic <it>MYH11 </it>mutations in the formation of breast or prostate cancers was obtained in this study.</p>
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