HUMAN FAMILIAL AND SPORADIC BREAST-CANCER - ANALYSIS OF THE CODING REGIONS OF THE 17-BETA-HYDROXYSTEROID DEHYDROGENASE 2 GENE (EDH17B2) USING A SINGLE-STRAND CONFORMATION POLYMORPHISM ASSAY

17 beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17HSD) is one of;the key enzymes in estrogen metabolism, catalyzing the reversible reaction between es tradiol and the less active estrogen, estrone. The gene encoding this enzyme, EDH17B2, has been mapped to chromosome 17, region q12-q21, in the vicinity of BRCA1, an as yet unidentified gene that appears to be involved in familial breast cancer and in familial ovarian cancer. The possibility that EDH17B2 gene is the same as BRCA1 was tested by scre ening for mutations in the coding regions of EDH17B2, using a polymera se chain reaction/single-strand conformation polymorphism method. An A -->G transition creating a new BstUI site at exon 6 was the only frequ ent sequence alteration found in the coding region of the gene. This m utation also led to an amino acid substitution of serine to glycine at position 312 (312(S)-->312(G)) in the 17HSD protein. Since the nucleo tide change was detected both in specimens from patients with familial or sporadic cancer and in control samples, and at similar rates, this mutation appears to be of a polymorphic nature. In addition, a rare p olymorphism located at intron 5 was detected. This C-->T substitution creates a BbvI site and is not thought to have any effect on 17HSD act ivity. The results indicate that there are no major alterations in the coding areas of EDH17B2 and thus studies testing the hypothesis that EDH17B2 may be the same as BRCA1 should be extended to the promoter an d regulatory elements of EDH17B2.