Allele loss on chromosome 1p36 in epithelial ovarian cancers

Abstract

Objectives: Prior studies have shown that allelic loss on chromosome 1p36 occurs frequently in ovarian as well as several other types of cancer. This suggests that inactivation of gene(s) in this region may play a role in the pathogenesis of these cancers. The aim of this study was to further delineate the region of loss on chromosome 1p36 in ovarian cancers and to identify associated patient or tumor characteristics.

Methods: Paired normal/cancer DNA samples from 75 ovarian cancers (21 early stage I/II and 54 advanced stage III/IV) were analyzed using microsatellite markers.

Results: Forty-nine of 75 (65%) ovarian cancers had loss of at least one marker. The marker demonstrating the most frequent loss was D1S1597, which was lost in 29/57 (51%) informative cases. Allele loss on 1p36 was significantly more common in poorly differentiated ovarian cancers (73%) relative to well or moderately differentiated cases (48%) (P = 0.03). Evidence was obtained for two common regions of deletion: one flanked by D1S1646/D1S244 and another more proximally by D1S244/D1S228.

Conclusion: These findings further delineate regions on chromosome 1p36 proposed to contain tumor suppressor gene(s) that may play a role in the development and/or progression of epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Allele loss on 1p36 is associated with poor histologic grade.