P53 MUTATION HOTSPOT IN RADON-ASSOCIATED LUNG-CANCER

Mutations in gene p53 are the most common defects in lung cancer and m ay be a pathway through which environmental carcinogens initiate cance r. We investigated p53 mutations in lung cancers from uranium miners w ith high radon exposure. 16 (31%) of 52 large-cell and squamous-cell c ancers from miners contained the same AGG to ATG transversion at codon 249, including cancers from 3 or 5 miners who had never smoked. This specific mutation has been reported in only 1 of 241 published p53 mut ations from lung cancers. The codon 249 mutation may be a marker for r adon-induced lung cancer.