title: Frequent loss of heterozygosity at the retinoblastoma locus in human esophageal cancers.
abstract: Abnormalities in the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene (Rb) have been observed in a large number of human cancers. Loss of heterozygosity is a common mode of allelic inactivation of Rb and other tumor suppressor genes. We investigated DNA from 61 primary human esophageal tumors for loss of heterozygosity at the Rb locus using a polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Of informative cases, we found loss of heterozygosity in 14 of 26 (54%) squamous cell carcinomas and 5 of 14 (36%) adenocarcinomas. These data support the hypothesis that Rb inactivation is involved in the pathogenesis and/or progression of esophageal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology Division, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Boynton
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Blount
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Raskind
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Haggitt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Newkirk
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Resau
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Meltzer
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D016161:Genes, Retinoblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction