GENETIC ALTERATIONS IN BRAIN-TUMORS IDENTIFIED BY RAPD ANALYSIS

We report the utility of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analy sis for identifying subtle genomic alterations in meningiomas and glio mas by comparing the DNA band profile of tumor vis-a-vis its constitut ional counterpart. Twenty out of the 29 decanucleotide GC-rich random primers utilized for the RAPD analysis of meningiomas revealed alterat ion(s) in the tumor genome. In gliomas, changes were detected by 16 of the 18 primers. While all the seven meningioma samples exihibited alt erations in tumor DNA, changes were evident in 21 of the 24 glioma cas es. These alterations in tumor DNA included the loss of a normal band, appearance of a new band and amplification of a pre-existing band. Ma ny primers detected more than one alterations in a given tumor. Our ap proach, which covers the range from 0.4 to 2 kb, besides detecting a s ignificant number of changes in a spectrum of brain tumors, complement s existing DNA fingerprinting methods, such as microsatellite mapping (less than 0.4 kb) and Southern blotting (over 2 kb), for detecting ge netic alterations in tumors. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.