A polymorphism in a let‐7 microRNA binding site of KRAS in women with endometriosis

Olga Grechukhina, Rafaella Petracco, Shota Popkhadze, Efi Massasa, Efi E. Massasa, Trupti Paranjape, Elcie Chan, Idhaliz Flores, Joanne B Weidhaas, Hugh S Taylor
EMBO molecular medicine · 2012 · vol. 4(3) , pp. 206–217 · doi:10.1002/emmm.201100200 · PMID:22307873 · W2165596244
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 63 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

A polymorphism in a let-7 microRNA binding site of KRAS was found in 31% of women with endometriosis, leading to increased KRAS expression, endometrial cell proliferation, and invasion.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Endometriosis is found in 5-15% of women of reproductive age and is more frequent in relatives of women with the disease. Activation of KRAS results in de novo endometriosis in mice, however, activating KRAS mutations have not been identified in women. We screened 150 women with endometriosis for a polymorphism in a let-7 microRNA (miRNA) binding site in the 3'-UTR of KRAS and detected a KRAS variant allele in 31% of women with endometriosis as opposed to 5% of a large diverse control population. KRAS mRNA and protein expression were increased in cultured endometrial stromal cells of women with the KRAS variant. Increased KRAS protein was due to altered miRNA binding as demonstrated in reporter assays. Endometrial stromal cells from women with the KRAS variant showed increased proliferation and invasion. In a murine model, endometrial xenografts containing the KRAS variant demonstrated increased proliferation and decreased progesterone receptor levels. These findings suggest that an inherited polymorphism of a let-7 miRNA binding site in KRAS leads to abnormal endometrial growth and endometriosis. The LCS6 polymorphism is the first described genetic marker of endometriosis risk.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis MicroRNAs Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Proto-Oncogene Proteins ras Proteins Adult Alleles Animals Binding Sites Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Mice Mice, SCID MicroRNAs MicroRNAs Mutation Proto-Oncogene Proteins Proto-Oncogene Proteins

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (50)

Cited by (50)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:16:23.388809+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK