Brigham and Women's Hospital Scientists Uncover Genetic Link for Uterine Fibroids

Uterine fibroids are the most common type of pelvic tumors in women and are the leading cause of hysterectomy in the United States. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) are the first to discover a genetic risk allele (an alternative form of a gene) for uterine fibroids in white women using an unbiased, genome-wide approach. This discovery will pave the way for new screening strategies and treatments for uterine fibroids. The study will be published online on October 4, 2012 in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The research team, led by Cynthia Morton, PhD, BWH director of the Center for Uterine Fibroids and senior study author, analyzed genetic data from over 7,000 white women. The researchers detected genetic variants that are significantly associated with uterine fibroid status in a span of three genes including FASN which encodes a protein called FAS (fatty acid synthase).