ALLELOTYPE ANALYSIS OF HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA

To elucidate the genetic events which may play important roles in hepa tocarcinogenesis, we examined every nonacrocentric chromosome arm of 2 2 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) us ing 68 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Thirty-six (92%) of 39 chromosome arms showed LOH in at least one patient, however 3 chrom osome arms, 2p, 2q, and 20q, did not show any LOH. High to moderate fr equency of LOH (>30% of informative cases) was observed at chromosomes 1q (68.1%), 4q (72.7%), 8p (63.6%), 8q (77.3%), 10q (33.3%), 13q (40% ), 14q (46.1%), 16q (59.1%), and 17p (46.2%). Among these, LOH on chro mosomes Iq and 8q have not been previously identified in HCC. Our resu lts suggest that novel tumor suppressor genes may be involved in the d evelopment and progression of HCC. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.