Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers among men in many Western countries, including Finland. However, the molecular genetic events associated with the development and progression of the disease are poorly known. According to the multistep model of carcinogenesis, several genetic aberrations take place in prostate cancer, but only a few genes potentially involved in prostatic carcinogenesis have been identified.It has been suggested that genetic alterations take place in several chromosomal regions in prostate cancer and, in comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) studies, the long arm of chromosome 16 is among those showing the most frequent loss (Joos et al, 1995;Visakorpi et al, 1995;Cher et al, 1996). Losses at chromosome 16 have been reported to occur almost exclusively in the long arm (q) (Bergerheim et al, 1991;Visakorpi et al, 1995;Cher et al, 1996). Both primary and metastatic tumours have been found to show allelic loss at 16q, and the occurrence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has also been associated with clinicopathological variables such as aggressive and metastatic behaviour of the disease and poor differentiation of the tumour (Carter et al, 1990;Suzuki et al, 1996;Elo et al, 1997;Latil et al, 1997). The most common area of deletion has been suggested to be distal in 16q, but the most recent results have indicated evidence of loss of several independent regions in 16q (Suzuki et al, 1996;Elo et al, 1997;Latil et al, 1997).Particular interest in losses at 16q has been paid to the region 16q21.1, where a potential tumour-suppressor gene, that for Ecadherin, is located. Decreased E-cadherin expression has been associated with poor prognosis of prostate cancer (Umbas et al, 1994). Recently, the regions of loss at chromosome arm 16q have been narrowed down. It has been suggested in several reports that losses at 16q are concentrated in three independent regions (Suzuki et al, 1996;Latil et al, 1997). The proximal area of loss is suggested to be located somewhere at 16q21.1 and the distal area of loss has been suggested to lie at 16q24.3. The central region of loss has been reported to be at 16q23.2 (Latil et al, 1997), but it has also been reported to be located at 16q23.2-q24.1 (Suzuki et al, 1996). Our recent data indicate that a 7.6-cM central area of loss is located at 16q24.1-q24.2, between markers D16S504 and D16S422. In addition, LOH at 16q24.1-q24.2 (HSD17B2 and D16S422) was found to be the most frequent area of deletion, and it was significantly correlated with aggressive and metastatic behaviour of the disease and also with poorly differentiated tumours (Elo et al, 1997).There are several candidate genes putatively involved in prostatic carcinogenesis located distally at 16q. The 17HSD type 2 gene (HSD17B2), located at 16q24.1-q24.2, encodes the 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD) type 2 isoenzyme, which Summary Loss of heterozygosity at chromosome arm 16q is a frequent event in human prostate cancer. In this study, loss of heterozygosity at 16q was studied in 44 prostate ca...