Genetic predisposition to familial neuroblastoma: identification of two novel genomic regions at 2p and 12p.
OBJECTIVE
The rarity of familial neuroblastoma (NB) has allowed only a few linkage studies, most of which did not show any evidence of linkage to regions involved in somatic alterations or to genes implicated in other neurocristopathies seldom associated with NB. We screened a highly informative family with recurrent NB by genome-wide linkage analysis aimed at identifying chromosomal regions for NB predisposing genes.


METHODS
A genome-wide screen was performed using 382 microsatellite markers. Multipoint model-based linkage analysis was carried out under a dominant mode of inheritance for the disease using the 'affected only' approach.


RESULTS
Our analysis identified two haplotypes co-segregating with the disease on chromosomes 2p and 12p, and yielded maximum lod-score values of 3.01 (p < 0.0001) for markers on both intervals.


CONCLUSIONS
Evidence of linkage was reported at 16p in North American families, whereas our studies excluded this interval and indicated other loci for disease predisposition, thus confirming the remarkable genetic heterogeneity of NB. These results suggest an oligogenic inheritance in NB involving more loci in genetic determination of the disease.
Longo
Luca
L
Unit of Translational Pediatric Oncology,National Institute for Cancer Research (IST), Genoa, Italy.
Panza
Emanuele
E
Schena
Francesca
F
Seri
Marco
M
Devoto
Marcella
M
Romeo
Giovanni
G
Bini
Carla
C
Pappalardo
Giuseppe
G
Tonini
Gian Paolo
GP
Perri
Patrizia
P
D002881:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12; D002889:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005820:Genetic Testing; D015894:Genome, Human; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008126:Lod Score; D019656:Loss of Heterozygosity; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree