Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 9q22.3 in microdissected basal cell carcinomas around the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site, Kazakhstan.
A high incidence of skin cancers has been noted around the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site (SNTS) in Kazakhstan. Recently, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) susceptibility genes, human homolog of the Drosophila pathed gene (PTCH), and the xeroderma pigmentosa group A-complementing gene (XPA), have been cloned and localized on chromosome 9q22.3. To clarify the effect of low-dose irradiation on the occurrence of BCC, we used microdissection and polymerase chain reaction to identify loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 9q22.3 using BCC samples obtained from this region. Ten Japanese samples were analyzed as controls. LOH with at least 1 marker was identified in 5 of 14 cases from around SNTS, whereas only 1 case with 1 marker was identified among the 10 Nagasaki cases. The total number of LOH alleles from SNTS (8 of 45) was significantly higher than the number from Nagasaki (1 of 26) (P = 0.03). The higher incidence of LOH on 9q22.3 in BCC from around SNTS suggests involvement of chronic low-dose irradiation by fallout from the test site as a factor in the cancers.
Iwata
Kenji
K
Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
Takamura
Noboru
N
Nakashima
Masahiro
M
Alipov
Gabit
G
Mine
Mariko
M
Matsumoto
Naomichi
N
Yoshiura
Koichiro
K
Prouglo
Yuriy
Y
Sekine
Ichiro
I
Katayama
Ichiro
I
Yamashita
Shunichi
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007623:Kazakhstan; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000235:genetics*; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*
D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive