A 43-year-old woman has become increasingly tired and listless over the past 5 months. She has had menometrorrhagia for the past 3 months. On physical examination, there are no remarkable findings except for a positive result on stool guaiac testing. Laboratory studies show hemoglobin, 9.2 g/dL; hematocrit, 27.3%; and MCV, 75 μm3. Pelvic ultrasound reveals an enlarged uterus. A Pap smear shows abnormal cells of probable endometrial origin. Colonoscopy is performed, followed by partial colectomy; the gross appearance of the lesion is shown in the figure. Which of the following molecular abnormalities has most likely led to these findings?
A.
Mutation in a DNA mismatch-repair gene
B.
Germline inheritance of APC gene mutation
C.
Tyrosine kinase activation owing to c-KIT mutation
D.
Homozygous loss of PTEN gene
E.
Inactivation of the Rb protein by HPV-16