title: Microsatellite instability in oral cancer.
abstract: Generalized genomic instability, detected as somatic changes in allele sizes at microsatellite loci in tumors compared to peripheral lymphocyte DNA, is a recently recognized mechanism of mutation in cancer. Such instability results from the somatic loss of DNA mismatch repair capability. Germ-line mutations at DNA mismatch repair loci confer susceptibility to colon cancer in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer. Somatic loss of DNA mismatch repair has been reported in a large variety of other tumor types. Our goal was to determine the frequency of microsatellite instability in a large series of oral tumors. Out of 91 tumors analyzed for microsatellite instability, 6 (7%) showed microsatellite instability. Instability was observed at multiple loci with a range of 50-74% of loci affected. Alterations include both increase (74%) and decrease (26%) in allele sizes. The proportion of alleles affected ranged from 30-58% of all alleles. Our data suggest that somatic genomic instability plays a role in the pathogenesis of a small subset of oral tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ishwad
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Ferrell
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rossie
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Law
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gollin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D002877:Chromosomes, Human; D004260:DNA Repair; D004261:DNA Replication; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics*; D004276:DNA, Satellite / Q000235:genetics*; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D004276:DNA, Satellite; D005819:Genetic Markers