Limiting the location of a putative human prostate cancer tumor suppressorgene at chromosome 13q14.3

We studied loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on human chromosome 13q in prostate cancer specimens to determine the location of a putative tumor suppressor gene (TSG) and to correlate these losses with the clinicopathological stage of the disease. Overall 13 (21%) of 61 specimens analysed had an allele lo ss on the long arm of chromosome 13, The most frequent (37%) LOH among the informative cases with allele losses was detected at the D13S284 locus on c hromosome 13q14.3. A portion of the DNA segment that spans this locus and i s flanked by the microsatellite loci D13S153 and D13S163 was lost in 85% of the specimens with allele losses and was designated as a LOH cluster regio n (LCR). The LCR spans more than 6 Mbp of DNA, The results suggest that a T SG relevant for the development of prostate cancer is located telomeric to the RE locus. There was a significant correlation (P=0.0024) between chromo some 13q LOH and advanced metastatic disease, suggesting that loss of 13q14 .3 region is associated with prostate cancer progression, However, further research must be conducted to establish the identity and function of this p utative TSG.