Uterine leiomyoma is a common tumor of smooth muscle cell origin often characterized by the presence of a balanced t(12;14)(q13-15;q24.1) chromosomal translocation.
Uterine leiomyoma is the most common tumor of smooth muscle cell origin and is often associated with the recurrent balanced translocation t(12;14)(q13-15;q24).
The finding in these leiomyosarcomas of rearrangements of the same regions of chromosomes 12 and 14 that are involved in the tumor-specific t(12;14)(q14-15;q23-24) of uterine leiomyoma indicates that the same genes in 12q and 14q might be important in the pathogenesis of benign and malignant smooth muscle tumors.