Genetics and lung carcinoma in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
BACKGROUND
Although the incidence of all cancers in Okinawa is the lowest in Japan, that of lung cancer is high. This study was performed to clarify the underlying mechanism of this tendency.


METHODS
Family histories of the lung cancer patients in Okinawa, p53 mutation, microsatellite alterations, and titers of serum anti-p53 antibodies were examined.


RESULTS
The number of patients who had relatives with some malignancies in relatives was low in Okinawa, but lung cancer was frequently observed in their relatives. Overexpression of p53 protein was frequently observed in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) than in adenocarcinoma (AD), and in smokers than in non-smokers. Anti-p53 antibodies were detected in 17.4%. The incidence of loss of heterozygosity at D3S643 and at IFNA were higher in SCC than in AD.


CONCLUSIONS
Lung cancer was frequently observed in relatives of lung cancer patients. Pulmonary SCC had different genetic alterations compared with pulmonary AD in Okinawa.
Hiroshima
K
K
Division of Pathology, School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
Toyozaki
T
T
Iyoda
A
A
Fujisawa
T
T
Genka
K
K
Ohwada
H
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53