title: EGFR intragenic loss and gene amplification in astrocytic gliomas.
abstract: We have studied EGFR gene amplification and allelic status of chromosome 7 in 68 tumors consisting of 34 WHO grade IV glioblastomas (26 primary and 8 secondary), 14 WHO grade III anaplastic astrocytomas, and 20 WHO grade II astrocytomas, by polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP), quantitative PCR, and microsatellite analysis. EGFR gene amplification was present in 27 of these tumors (40%), and we identified allelic losses at 7p11 approximately p14 in 38 of the 68 cases (56%), including 17 tumors displaying loss for EGFR intragenic markers. The positive correlation (P < 0.05, chi(2)) between tumors with EGFR intragenic loss and EGFR gene amplification, frequently displaying the EGFR vIII form, suggests that EGFR gene rearrangement leading to intragenic loss is a molecular event that participates in the amplification process of this gene.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación, Laboratorio de Oncogenética Molecular, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arjona
authors.forename: M Josefa
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: Juan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rey
mesh_terms: D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000235:genetics*; D005784:Gene Amplification; D018773:Genes, erbB-1; D006801:Humans; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity