DELETION MAPPING OF THE SHORT ARM OF CHROMOSOME-3 IN HUMAN-MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA

Previous cytogenetic investigations have revealed frequent deletions a nd other unbalanced structural rearrangements of 3p in human malignant mesothelioma. We have performed a restriction fragment length polymor phism analysis by using the polymerase chain reaction and primer sets for seven DNA markers to examine loss of heterozygosity (LOH) from 3p in 25 malignant mesotheliomas. Among 24 cases informative at one or mo re 3p loci, 15 (62.5%) exhibited LOH with at least one marker. Deletio n mapping in these tumors indicates that the common region of chromoso mal loss resides within band 3p21, in the vicinity of the D3F 15S2 loc us. These results suggest that allelic loss from 3p21 is a frequent oc currence in malignant mesothelioma and that one or more putative tumor suppressor genes at this site contribute to the pathogenesis of this malignancy. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.