CHARACTERIZATION OF C4-2 AS A TUMOR-SUPPRESSOR GENE IN HUMAN BRAIN-TUMORS

Background: Brain tumors claimed the lives of 13,300 people in 1995. O ur objective was to isolate and characterize unique tumor-suppressor g enes from human brain tumors derived from patients in the United Slate s. Methods: Differential display-polymerase chain reaction was used to isolate tumor suppressor genes. Results: Clone C4-2 was isolated and is expressed in normal adult human brain, but not in brain tissue from glioblastoma multiforme turners. C4-2 has 66% homology to the previou sly isolated ARPP-16 (cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein of Mr = 16,000) ba sed on limited sequencing. C4-2 is expressed at high levels in normal brain and is not expressed or expressed at low levels in several brain tumor cell Lines. Expression of C4-2 was also either not expressed or expressed at low levels in meningioma, B-cell lymphoma, recurrent gli oma, LNCAP (prostate tumor cell line), breast tumor. or prostate tumor tissue. Conclusion: We conclude that C4-2 may function as a potential tumor-suppressor gene. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.