Our data indicate that except for the endometrial cancer-associated APE1 variant R237C, the polymorphic variants Q51H, I64V and D148E, the rare population variants G241R, P311S and A317V, and the tumor-associated variant P112L exhibit normal thermodynamic stability of protein folding; abasic endonuclease, 3'-5' exonuclease and REF-1 activities; coordination during the early steps of base excision repair; and intracellular distribution when expressed exogenously in HeLa cells.
Somatic mutations in APEX (P112L, W188X and R237C) were identified in three of 20 endometrial tumors, but no mutations were identified in APEX in 43 ovarian tumors, or in OGG1 at either tumor site.