LOSS OF HETEROZYGOSITY OF CHROMOSOME-17 IN HUMAN BORDERLINE AND INVASIVE EPITHELIAL OVARIAN-TUMORS

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of microsatellite polymorphis ms corresponding to four loci which map to chromosome 17p and 11 loci which map to chromosome 17q was performed to screen for loss of hetero zygosity (LOH) in paired normal and tumor tissues from 27 cases of bor derline epithelial ovarian tumors (BEOT) and 32 cases of invasive epit helial ovarian cancers (IOC), LOH was observed in six of 27 (22%) of t he borderline tumors and in 29 of 32 (90%) of the invasive ovarian can cers (P<0.001), At all 15 loci studied, a lower percentage of allelic loss was detected in borderline tumors (0-14%) vs invasive cancer (8-9 3%), At eight loci this difference was statistically significant, For IOC, one common loss region was identified on chromosome 17p and four distinct common loss regions were on chromosome 17q, which supports th e notion that multiple tumor suppressors may reside on chromosome 17 i n IOC. These data suggest that LOH on chromosome 17 is an infrequent e vent in BEOT compared with IOC and therefore may not be important in t he distinct pathogenesis of BEOT.