MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF OCCUPATIONAL-CANCER - INFREQUENT P53 AND RAS MUTATIONS IN RENAL-CELL CANCER IN WORKERS EXPOSED TO GASOLINE

Occupational exposure to gasoline has been identified in several studi es as a risk factor for renal cell cancer. Cases of renal-cell cancer with and without work-related exposure to gasoline or gasoline and die sel fuel were studied for the presence of mutations in the tumour-supp ressor gene p53 (n = 23 exposed and 30 non-exposed cases studied) and ms oncogene (n = 30 exposed and 36 non-exposed cases studied). An aver age cumulative exposure was estimated at 10 ppm-years benzene among th e exposed. Three p53 mutations were detected by denaturing-gradient ge l electrophoresis (DGGE) among the 23 exposed cases (3/23, 13%). Of th e non-exposed referent cases, 4 had a mutation (4/30, 13%). All but on e of the cases with a p53 mutation had smoked. A ras gene (K-ras or N- ras) mutation was found in 3 (3/66, 4.5%) cases, all of whom were smok er referents. We conclude that p53 and ros mutations are infrequent in renal cell cancer associated with occupational exposure to gasoline. However, the majority of the mutations (6/7 for p53, and 3/3 for ras g enes) were seen in smokers. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.