LACK OF ALLELIC DELETION AND POINT MUTATION AS MECHANISMS OF P53 ACTIVATION IN HUMAN-MALIGNANT MELANOMA

To investigate the role of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene in the develo pment of human melanoma, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of p53 was studi ed in 46 cases of melanoma by a ymerase-chain-reaction/restriction-fra gment-length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP) analysis, and p53 mutations were assessed in 51 cases of melanoma by a polymerase-chain-reaction/ singl e-strand-conformation polymorphism (PCR/SSCP) analysis. Frozen tumors and paraffin samples were used in the study. We were not able to detec t any allelic loss in 12 BstUI informative cases or any single mutatio n in exons 5 to 8 of the p53 gene. Our results, together with other fi ndings at the DNA level, suggest that the p53 gene appears not to be c ommonly involved in the development of melanoma, at least by its most frequent mechanisms of deletion of one allele and/or mutation in the o ther. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.