NOVEL TRANSCRIBED SEQUENCES WITHIN THE BWS WT2 REGION IN 11P15.5 - TISSUE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION CORRELATES WITH CANCER TYPE/

Chromosome band 11p15.5 has proven to be an intriguing area of the hum an genome. Various studies have linked alterations in this region to g rowth-related disorders such as Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and a vari ety of human cancers. Furthermore, functional assays in G401 Wilms tum or cells and RD rhabdomyosarcoma cells support the existence of a tumo r suppressor gene on 11p15.5, sometimes called WT2. In addition, sever al genes mapping to this region show imprinted expression, suggesting that 11p15.5 contains an imprinted domain. We have employed solution h ybrid capture in combination with sequence analysis to identify 16 gen es within the similar to 700-kb critical region of 11p15.5 between D11 S601 and D11S1318. Two of these genes, NAP1L4 and KCNA9, had been prev iously reported. Ten novel transcripts were identified with partial cD NA sequences selected by solution hybrid capture. Sequence homology to known ESTs was used to identify the remaining gene transcripts. Inter estingly, the tissue specific mRNA expression of these genes correlate s with the tumor types linked to this region. This work can be compile d into a transcript map, important in the elucidation of tumor suppres sor activity on chromosome 11p15.5. (C) 1997 Academic Press.