Detailed deletion mapping of chromosome band 14q32 in human neuroblastoma defines a 1.1-Mb region of common allelic loss

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a well-known malignant disease in infants, but its mo lecular mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. To investigate the g enetic contribution of abnormalities on the long arm of chromosome 14 (14q) in NE, we analysed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in 54 primary NE samples u sing 12 microsatellite markers on 14q32. Seventeen (31%) of 54 tumours show ed LOH at one or more of the markers analysed, and the smallest common regi on of allelic loss was identified between D14S62 and D14S987. This region w as estimated to be 1-cM long from the linkage map. Fluorescence in situ hyb ridization also confirmed the loss. There was no statistical correlation be tween LOH and any clinicopathologic features, including age, stage, amplifi cation of MYCN and ploidy. We further constructed a contig spanning the los t region using bacterial artificial chromosome and estimated this region to be approximately 1.1-Mb by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Our results w ill contribute to cloning and characterizing the putative tumour-associated gene(s) in 14q32 in NB. (C) 2000 Cancer Research Campaign.