Loss of heterozygosity analysis of 13q and 14q in human malignant mesothelioma

Cytogenetic investigations of malignant mesothelioma (MM) have revealed frequent losses in chromosomes 13 and 14, suggesting that inactivation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) residing in these chromosomes may contribute to mesothelial cell tumorigenesis. To define the shortest region of overlap (SRO) of deletions from these chromosomes, we performed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analyses on 30 MMs using 25 microsatellite markers in 13q and 21 markers in 14q. Twenty of the 30 MMs (67%) showed allelic loss of at least one marker in 13q. The SRO of deletions was delineated as an ~7 centiMorgan region, flanked by markers D13S1253 and D13S291, located at 13q13.3-14.2. Thirteen of the 30 MMs (43%) displayed allelic losses from 14q, with at least three distinct regions of LOH located at segments q11.2-13.2, q22.3-24.3, and q32.12. These data highlight a single region of chromosomal loss in 13q in many MMs, implicating the involvement of a TSG that is critical to the pathogenesis of this malignancy. In contrast, the lower incidence and diffuse pattern of allelic losses in 14q suggest that several TSGs in this chromosome arm may contribute to tumorigenic progression in a subset of MMs. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.