Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 7q and aggressive primary breast cancer.
Genetic alterations are believed to be important in the origin and dissemination of breast cancer. Cytogenetic rearrangements on chromosome 7 are common in breast tumours. We used the c-met proto-oncogene probe, which detects sequences on chromosome 7q31, to analyse tumour and blood leucocyte DNA samples from 245 patients with primary breast cancers. The pmetH polymorphic probe detected a high frequency of allele loss (40.5%) among the 121 informative (heterozygous) patients. This genetic alteration was not significantly associated with standard prognostic features including tumour size, histopathological grade, and lymph-node or steroid receptor status. However, patients with loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 7q31 in primary tumour DNA had significantly shorter metastasis-free survival (p = 0.00022) and overall survival (p = 0.0036) after surgery than patients without this alteration. These findings indicate that this region of chromosome 7 might be the site of a breast tumour or metastasis suppressor gene.
Oncovirology Laboratory, Centre René Huguenin, St-Cloud, France.
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Hacène
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D000483:Alleles; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002897:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D011379:Prognosis; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met