[Abnormal expression of the FHIT gene in human primary gastrointestinal cancers].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between FHIT gene and gastrointestinal cancers. METHODS: Matched normal and cancerous tissues from 26 patients with primary gastric carcinoma and 30 patients with colorectal carcinoma were analysed by nested polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and direct sequencing of the products. RESULTS: Seven of 26(26.9%) gastric cancer tissues and eight of 30(26.7%) colorectal cancer tissues expressed aberrant FHIT transcripts, but no aberrant FHIT transcript was observed in all the matched normal tissues. Sequence analysis of the aberrant transcripts of 2 gastric cancer tissues(G8T, G25T) and 2 colorectal cancer tissues(C5T, C26T) confirmed the absence of 1 to 3 exons of FHIT gene. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of aberrant FHIT transcripts is common and tumor-specific in gastrointestinal cancers and abnormalities of FHIT gene may be associated with gastrointestinal tumorigenesis.