Loss of a Harvey ras allele in sporadic Wilms' tumour.
Genomic changes within chromosome band 11p13 appear to have a role in the initiation of Wilms' tumour. The human Harvey ras oncogene, c-Ha-ras 1, has been located by Jhanwar et al. immediately adjacent to this region at band 11p14 .1, although several groups have assigned the gene more distally at band 11p15 . We have examined tumour DNA from two cases of sporadic Wilms' tumour, and report here that in both cases one of the two constitutional c-Ha-ras 1 alleles was absent. One tumour had a reciprocal translocation between the short arm of chromosome 11 (at band 11p13), and the long arm of chromosome 12, with no visible loss of chromosomal material. The loss of a c-Ha-ras 1 allele in association with this translocation indicates that a submicroscopic deletion had occurred. The resulting hemizygosity may have had a role in tumour initiation. Our results indicate that the c-Ha-ras 1 gene and the 'Wilms' tumour locus' may be in close proximity. It would, therefore, be premature to exclude the possibility that these two sites are functionally related.
D000483:Alleles; D001483:Base Sequence; D002906:Chromosomes, Human, 6-12 and X; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D009857:Oncogenes; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D009396:Wilms Tumor / Q000235:genetics*
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes