Molecular analysis of the chromosome 11p region in renal cell carcinomas

Abstract

Comparative histological data suggest that papillary renal cell tumors in adults and Wilms' tumors in children develop from maturation-arrested cells of similar origin. Wilms' tumor is characterized by genetic changes at the chromosome 11p region. In the present study, we have analyzed 10 papillary and 10 non-papillary renal cell tumors and determined the allelic status of 6 loci on the short arm of chromosome 11. Only one papillary renal cell carcinoma among the 20 tumors showed a loss of constitutional heterozygosity for the chromosome 11p region. These data suggest that separate molecular events occur in the development of Wilms' tumor and papillary renal cell tumors, subsequent to the proliferation of maturation-arrested cells of the kidney.