Allelic deletion at chromosome bands 11q14-23 is common in neuroblastoma.
BACKGROUND
Neuroblastoma tumorigenesis may involve the differential inactivation of multiple tumor suppressor genes. Recent data have suggested that a neuroblastoma suppressor gene may be located on the long arm of chromosome 11 (11q).


METHODS
We therefore analyzed 295 primary neuroblastomas from a representative group of patients for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 25 polymorphic markers spanning 11q.


RESULTS
LOH was observed in 129 primary neuroblastomas (44%), and a common region of LOH mapped to 11q14-23. No correlation was found between 11q LOH and adverse prognostic variables, but a strong inverse relationship between 11q LOH and MYCN amplification (P < 0.001) was observed. There was no difference in overall survival when patients were stratified by 11q LOH status. However, 11q LOH was associated with a decreased overall survival probability when patients whose tumors had a single copy of MYCN were analyzed separately (P = 0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
These data support the hypothesis that a tumor suppressor gene mapping within 11q14-23 is frequently inactivated during the malignant evolution of neuroblastoma.
Maris
J M
JM
Division of Oncology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4138, USA. maris@email.chop.edu
Guo
C
C
White
P S
PS
Hogarty
M D
MD
Thompson
P M
PM
Stram
D O
DO
Gerbing
R
R
Matthay
K K
KK
Seeger
R C
RC
Brodeur
G M
GM
D000483:Alleles; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002878:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1 / Q000235:genetics; D002880:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D016259:Genes, myc; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015993:Life Tables; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D008297:Male; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis