L-MYC PROTOONCOGENE ALLELES AND SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA

A common inherited RFLP of the L-myc proto-oncogene has been reported to correlate with cancer susceptibility or prognosis for some tumors. Using a PCR-based RFLP assay on DNA extracted from peripheral blood sa mples, we determined the L-myc EcoRI genotype of patients with HCC, pa tients with other liver tumors, and healthy controls. In this polymorp hism there are 2 alleles, L and S, which define 3 possible genotypes: LL, LS, and SS. While the genotype distribution of patients with other liver tumors and healthy controls do not differ from one another, bot h differ significantly from the genotype distribution of patients with HCC. This difference is primarily the result of a low frequency of th e SS genotype among HCC patients compared to controls or other liver t umor patients. Persons with the SS genotype appear to be protected aga inst HCC and have roughly one-ninth the risk of persons who carry one or more copies of the L allele. Within HCC cases, patients with differ ent L-myc genotypes show slight, but not statistically significant, di fferences in tumor characteristics and survival. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.