Identification of the homozygously deleted region at chromosome 1p36.2 in human neuroblastoma

Background. We have identified for the first time a homozygously deleted re gion within the smallest region of overlap at 1p36.2-3 in two neuroblastoma cell lines. Procedure. The 800-kb PAC contig covering the entire homozygou sly deleted region was made and sequenced. To date, approximately 70% of se quencing has been accomplished, and the estimated length of the deleted reg ion was 500 kb. Results. Currently, we have found six genes within the regi on, which include three known genes as well as three other genes that have been reported during processing of our present project for the last 31/2 ye ars. We report here the results of expression and mutation analyses of thos e genes. Conclusions. Full sequencing for the region of homozygous deletion as well as further analyses of the genes mapped within the region may reve al whether or not there is a neuroblastoma suppressor gene as proposed by t he Knudson's two-hit hypothesis. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.