A MboII polymorphism in exon 11 of the human MDM2 gene occuring in normal blood donors and in soft tissue sarcoma patients: an indication for an increased cancer susceptibility?

The human MDM2 oncogene, well known as the tumor suppressor gene p53's part ner, plays an important role in tumorigenesis whether it is dependent on or independent of TP53. In this study, we investigated in a PCR-sequencing an alysis the exon 11 of the human MDM2 gene for gene alterations. A MboII pol ymorphism occurs in 8% of normal blood donors (8 out of 100 probands) and i n 13% of the soft tissue sarcoma patients (11 out of 82 patients). Of note was that two STS patients carried the gene alteration only in the tumor spe cimens heterozygously but not in normal tissue. In a Kaplan-Meier analysis, patients without the polymorphism, indicated a median survival rate of 57 months, whereas, patients with the polymorphism survived on average only 38 months. We suggest that this polymorphism might be associated with an incr eased cancer susceptibility. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.