IDENTIFICATION OF 2 COMMON REGIONS OF ALLELIC LOSS IN CHROMOSOME ARM 12Q IN HUMAN PANCREATIC-CANCER

Using the method of microsatellite analysis, we studied 40 tissues wit h pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and identified two commonly deleted regions on the long arm of chromosome 12. One (region A) was found be tween D12S81 and D12S1719 at 12q21 at a frequency of 69.5%, and the ot her (region B) was located between D12S360 and D12S78 at 12q22q23.1 at a frequency of 60%; the latter was reported previously (M. Kimura, et nl. Genes Chromosomes Cancer, 17: 88-93, 1996), The results of micros atellite analyses were verified by fluorescence in situ hybridization. We further analyzed 19 pancreatic cancer cell lines by fluorescence i n situ hybridization and found that 10 of them showed allelic loss at D12S81 and 6 showed allelic loss at D12S360. Yeast artificial chromoso me contigs were constructed to cover the deleted regions. Region B was completely covered by a 650-kb yeast artificial chromosome clone. The frequently deleted regions in chromosome 12q in pancreatic cancer tha t were identified here may provide new avenues for isolating novel tum or suppressor genes.