title: Chromosome arm 8p and cancer: a fragile hypothesis.
abstract: Chromosome arm 8p is one of the most frequently altered regions in human cancers. Several potential oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes have been identified but further investigations are needed to confirm which are bona fide oncogenic targets. In cancer cells, chromosome breaks may occur at fragile sites throughout the genome. Some fragile sites lie within genes that may have a role in cancer; the best example is FHIT at 3p14, which contains the fragile site FRA3B. We have found that chromosome breaks disrupt the NRG1 gene at 8p12 in breast and pancreatic cancers. We hypothesise that alteration of the NRG1 gene could occur through breakage at a non-common fragile site.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes and U119 Inserm, IFR57, Marseille, France. birnbaum@marseille.inserm.fr
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Birnbaum
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adélaïde
authors.forename: Cornel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popovici
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Charafe-Jauffret
authors.forename: Marie-Joelle
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mozziconacci
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaffanet
mesh_terms: D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D019457:Chromosome Breakage; D043283:Chromosome Fragile Sites; D002873:Chromosome Fragility; D002898:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8; D006801:Humans; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D020890:Neuregulin-1 / Q000235:genetics; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D000099170:Bis(5'-adenosyl)triphosphatase
chemical_list: D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D020890:Neuregulin-1; D000099170:Bis(5'-adenosyl)triphosphatase