Three discrete regions of deletion at 3p in head and neck cancers
Maestro, R.; Gasparotto, D.; Vukosavljevic, T.; Barzan, L.; Sulfaro, S.; Boiocchi, M.
Cancer Research 53(23): 5775-5779
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0008-5472 PMID: 8242635 Document Number: 410076
Alteration of the short arm or chromosome 3 is one of the most consistent cytogenetic abnormalities found in human head and neck cancers. These alterations, composed of translocations and deletions, have been associated with the presence of a tumor suppressor gene(s), but no clear evidence of the location of this presumptive gene(s) was available. We performed a molecular analysis of the 3p region using a polymerase chain reaction-based approach. Twenty-eight of the 38 cases analyzed (74%) showed the presence of single or multiple areas of allelic loss. Three commonly deleted regions, tentatively mapped to 3p24-ter, 3p21.3, and 3p14--cen, were identified. Our results suggest that at least three oncosuppressor genes mapping on 3p may be involved in head and neck cancer development and support a common oncogenic pathway with squamous cell lung cancer, for which a similar pattern of 3p deletion has been described recently.