Five distinct deleted regions on chromosome 17 defining different subsets of human primary breast tumors.

In this study, we analyzed 105 paired sporadic primary breast tumor and normal tissue samples for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 17, using 12 polymorphic markers. We have identified partial or interstitial LOH in five separate regions of chromosome 17. Two of the deleted regions lie on the short arm of the chromosome, the first (region I, D17S5) in the telomeric part, distal to TP53 and the second spanning the TP53 gene (region II). Three of the five deleted regions lie on the long arm of chromosome 17: region III, on the proximal long arm between D17S250 and THRA1; region IV, between D17S776 and D17S579, including the BRCA1 gene, and region V, located distal to D17S733. No statistically significant correlations were observed between clinicopathological characteristics or steroid hormone receptor status and deletion of either region I or II. However, patients whose tumors had LOH for region I showed relapse or death more frequently than patients with tumors informative for this region but without LOH (p = 0.002). Statistically significant correlations between LOH at each of the three deleted regions of 17q and a high mitotic index were observed (region III, p = 0.005; region IV, p = 0.02, and region V, p = 0.004). In addition, LOH at region IV showed a significant association with paucity of estrogen receptors (p = 0.01). Our results show a complex pattern of LOH on chromosome 17 in breast cancer and a correlation of these events with different clinical parameters. This pattern suggests that particular subsets of allele loss may contribute specifically to different clinically defined subsets of sporadic breast tumors.

Detailed deletion mapping of chromosome segment 17q12-21 in sporadic breast tumours.

Linkage studies have indicated that a gene on chromosome arm 17q, designated BRCA1, confers susceptibility to familial breast and ovarian cancer. To investigate the possible involvement of the BRCA1 gene in sporadic breast cancer we have analysed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in a panel of 100 sporadic primary breast tumours using 10 PCR-based polymorphic markers from 17q12-21. Allele losses were detected in 40 of 100 tumours informative for at least one of the markers analysed. Of these 40 deleted tumours, 27 showed partial or interstitial loss on 17q. The pattern of LOH in the tumours with partial or interstitial LOH revealed three putative distinct deleted regions on 17q12-21. The first lies on the proximal long arm between D17S250 and THRA1; the second one lies between D17S776 and D17S579, the region containing the BRCA1 gene; and the third is telomeric to D17S733. The most frequently deleted region overlaps with the minimal region containing the BRCA1 gene, suggesting that this gene might also be associated with the development or progression of a proportion of sporadic breast tumours.