ISOLATION OF A PANCREAS-SPECIFIC GENE LOCATED ON HUMAN-CHROMOSOME 14Q31 - EXPRESSION ANALYSIS IN HUMAN PANCREATIC DUCTAL CARCINOMAS

We have isolated a novel cDNA (SEL1L) that shows sequence similarities to SEL-1, a gene identified as an extragenic suppressor of the Lin-12 hypomorphic mutant from Caenorhabditis elegans (7, 8). SEL1L exhibits a tissue specific pattern of expression: a single poly(A)(+) RNA spec ies of 7.5 kb is abundantly expressed only in the pancreas of healthy individuals, whereas low to undetectable levels are observed in other adult and in some fetal tissues, Somatic hybrid panel and fluorescence in situ hybridization positioned this gene in the q31 band of human c hromosome 14. The tissue-specific expression of this gene induced us t o study its role in human pancreatic carcinomas. Our analysis revealed that 17% of adenocarcinomas of the pancreas did not express SEL1L to a detectable level; however, no gross genomic alterations were apparen t in the few hundred kilobases of the relevant region. (C) 1997 Academ ic Press.