To ascertain the involvement of human chromosome 3p and its established critical TSG regions in various epithelial malignancies, 21 polymorphic and 2 nonpolymorphic 3p markers were allelotyped in nonpapillary RCC, NSCLC, CC and BC from a total of 184 patients. LOH was observed with high frequency in all types of cancer studied: RCC (52/57, 91%), BC (41/51, 80%), NSCLC (30/40, 75%) and CC (27/36, 75%). Interstitial deletions, believed to signal TSG inactivation, were verified using the "L-allele rule" and real-time quantitative PCR. Significant correlation was observed between DNA copy numbers for 2 nonpolymorphic STS markers and LOH data for adjacent polymorphic loci. Interstitial deletions in 3p were demonstrated for all cancer types studied. However, the distribution of different types of deletion was characteristic for tumors from various locations. Large terminal deletions were predominantly seen in RCC and NSCLC (51% and 40%, respectively), correlating with clear cell RCC and squamous cell carcinomas of the lung. In addition to the LUCA region at 3p21.3 (centromeric), we found that the AP20 region (3p21.3, telomeric) was frequently affected in all 4 cancers, suggesting that this newly defined critical region contains multiple TSGs. Moreover, at least 3 candidate cancer-specific loci were identified. The telomeric 3p26.1-p25.3 region was predominantly deleted in RCC and NSCLC. The D3S1286 and D3S3047 markers (3p25.2-p24.3) were deleted nonrandomly in NSCLC. High-frequency LOH was detected in a segment mapped closely distal to the LUCA site (3p21.3), around the D3S2409 and D3S2456 markers. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Key words: chromosome 3p; tumor-suppressor gene; loss of heterozygosity; allelotyping; renal cell carcinomaVarious tumor-suppressing pathways and cancer-causing genes have been extensively studied over the past decade. 1 Several regions on the short arm of chromosome 3 are commonly affected in different epithelial tumors, and chromosome 3p contains several TSGs. 2,3 Frequent deletions with complicated profiles have been revealed in 3p by cytogenetic and allelotyping studies. 2,4 Tumorsuppression activity has been observed in functional chromosome transfer studies with subchromosomal fragments from distinct 3p regions. 2,5-7 Moreover, several genes from these regions were identified as TSG candidates. 3,8 -12 Our study was undertaken to evaluate distinct critical TSG regions of 3p involved in the origin and/or development of common major human cancers, with the aim of identifying the most promising regions to scan for novel candidate TSGs and for risk assessment. Some large areas of 3p, including long segments of the commonly involved 3p21 region, have not been tested before because identification of the most deleted regions is dependent on the choice of markers and only a limited set of markers has been used. For example, an additional important DNA segment has been identified at 3p21.31 with the application of tri-and tetranucleotide markers instead of the traditionally used CA repeats. 13 Further...