POINT MUTATION OF THE P53 GENE IS AN INFREQUENT EVENT IN UNTREATED PROSTATE-CANCER

The p53 gene is known to be one of the frequently altered tumor suppre ssor genes, involved in the oncogenesis of a wide spectrum of human ma lignant tumors. We investigated mutational events of the p53 gene in 1 8 clinically untreated prostate cancers. Direct sequencing analysis de monstrated that 1 of 18 cases harbored point mutation in the highly co nserved transcript region. The case showed CAT at codon 273 instead of wild-type CGT, substituting the encoded amino acid from histidine to arginine. The case had previously revealed homozygous loci on 17p, inc luding the p53 locus, by restriction fragment length polymorphism anal ysis. The other 17 cases harbored neither mutation nor small deletion. It is concluded that point mutation of the p53 gene is a infrequent e vent in the oncogenesis of untreated prostate cancer.