ATYPICAL ADENOMATOUS HYPERPLASIA OF THE PROSTATE - A PREMALIGNANT LESION

To better understand genetic alterations in atypical adenomatous hyper plasia (AAH) of the prostate, we examined the prevalence of allelic im balance at 5 microsatellite polymorphic markers on chromosomes 7q31-35 , 8p12-21, 8p22, 8q22.2, and 18q12.2 from 15 patients with AAH. DNA sa mples were obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections usi ng tissue microdissection. We found allelic imbalance in 7 of 15 (47%) cases of AAH. Genetic changes that commonly occur in early prostatic carcinogenesis and prostate carcinoma are found in AAH. Current data p rovide evidence of a genetic link between some cases of AAH and carcin oma.