title: Racial variation in the distribution of Ha-ras-1 alleles.
abstract: Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses of the Ha-ras-1 proto-oncogene were undertaken in white and black populations residing in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area to address whether specific rare alleles of the Ha-ras-1 proto-oncogene locus vary in their distribution among different racial groups. High-molecular-weight genomic DNA samples from the lungs of 80 lung cancer patients and 92 accident victims were digested with appropriate restriction enzymes and subjected to Southern analysis using the 6.6-kb BamHI human Ha-ras-1 recombinant fragment from the plasmid pEC. Thirty allelomorphs of different sizes were detected among the 172 study subjects. An association was observed between race and specific alleles. Rare alleles were more frequent in black cancer patients and trauma victims than in whites. Within each racial category, lung cancer patients had an excess of rare alleles. These data indicate the importance of controlling for racial variation when designing studies to determine human cancer risk factors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vineis
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Caporaso
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Krontiris
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lonergan
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugimura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001344:Autopsy; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D011905:Genes, ras; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D012016:Reference Values; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D004247:DNA; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific