Identification of a 7-cM region of frequent allelic loss on chromosome band 16p13.3 that is specifically associated with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma

A total of 17 primary thyroid cancer specimens including seven anaplastic c ancers, two papillary cancers adjacent to the anaplastic cancers, and eight papillary cancers were analyzed for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromo some arm 16p. All tumors of anaplastic cancer showed LOHs at one or more lo ci, and a 7-cM region of the smallest deleted region was found on 16p13.3 b etween D16S423 and D16S406. This LOH was specifically found in the anaplast ic cancer and not in the papillary thyroid cancer. Our present results sugg est localization of the putative tumor suppressor gene on 16p13.3, which is likely to play an important role in the anaplastic transformation of thyro id cancer.