CHROMOSOME 3P24-26 AND 3P22-12 LOSS IN HUMAN PROSTATIC ADENOCARCINOMA

Identification of loss of heterozygosity on specific genetic loci is c rucial for understanding the pathogenesis of prostate cancer at the mo lecular level. This is especially important because the deleted region s may contain putative tumor suppressor genes. Chromosome 3p loss appe ars to be frequently associated with various epithelial cancers. To ou r knowledge, there is no report on loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of chr omosome 3 in human prostate cancer. The present study was designed to investigate the LOH on chromosome 3p in microdissected samples of deli neated regions of normal and invasive carcinoma areas of prostatic epi thelium from the same tumor sections. For this purpose, DNA was extrac ted from microdissected normal and tumor cells of 38 prostate cancers, amplified by PCR and analyzed for LOH on chromosome 3p using 6 differ ent polymorphic DNA markers (D3S1560, THRB, D3S647, D3S1298, D3S1228 a nd D3S1296). Our results suggest that LOH was identified in 34 of 38 c ases (89%) with at least one marker. Twelve of 30 informative cases sh owed LOH at D3S1560; 18 of 22 informative cases showed loss at THRB; 2 0 of 38 informative cases showed deletion at D3S647; 16 of 38 informat ive cases showed loss at D3S1298; 12 of 34 informative cases showed LO H at D3S1228; and 6 of 34 informative cases showed LOH at D3S1296 regi ons. Our results suggest that the LOH is on the 3p24-26 and 3p22-12 re gions of the short arm of chromosome 3, indicating 2 discrete areas of deletion on chromosome 3p. The deletion at 3p24-26 and 3p22-12 was no t related to the stage or grade of the tumor. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc .