ALLELIC LOSS OF 16Q23.2-24.2 IS AN INDEPENDENT MARKER OF GOOD PROGNOSIS IN PRIMARY BREAST-CANCER

Allelic loss, detected as a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on the long a rm of chromosome 16, is an early and frequent event in breast cancer. Despite this, the clinical significance of LOH on 16q has been very po orly studied. In this study, corresponding blood and tumor samples fro m 199 clinically well-characterized primary breast cancer patients wer e analyzed for LOH with the highly polymorphic microsatellite marker D 16S511, located at 16q23.2-24.2. 61% of 168 informative tumors showed LOH. Univariate and multivariate analysis found a highly significant a ssociation between LOH at 16q23.2-24.2 and freedom from distant metast ases, disease-free survival, and overall survival, respectively. No as sociation was found with other clinical parameters such as menopausal status, tumor size, lymph node status. histopathology, and lymph node capsule invasion. This makes allelic loss of 16q23.2-24.2 an independe nt marker of good prognosis for primary breast cancer.