Deletion of chromosome 1 predicts prognosis in pancreatic endocrine tumors

Endocrine tumors, such as parathyroid adenomas and pheochromocytomas, frequ ently have deletions of chromosome 1, suggesting that inactivation of a tum or suppressor gene from chromosome 1 is important in their tumorigenesis, W e hypothesized that deletion of chromosome 1 may contribute to pancreatic e ndocrine tumor formation. Twenty-nine sporadic and MEN1 pancreatic endocrin e tumors were studied for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) with 12 chromosome 1 microsatellite markers. LOH on chromosome 1 was identified in 10 of 29 (34 %) tumors studied. Allele loss occurred more frequently in tumors with hepa tic metastases (7 of 8) than tumors without metastases (3 of 21) (P = 0.004 ), Tumors in patients with lymph node involvement and patients with multipl e endocrine neoplasia type I did not demonstrate LOH for chromosome 1 marke rs, These data suggest that loss of chromosome 1 is associated specifically with the development of hepatic metastases in patients with sporadic pancr eatic endocrine tumors.