Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes have been implicated as being involved in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, 55 NSCLC Hong Kong Chinese patients were examined for the occurrence of genetic alterations in 4 tumor suppressor genes and chromosome 11 involvement. For the 4 tumor suppressor genes studied, genetic alterations were detected ranging from 4.8% (2/42) of the cases in the APC gene, 18.5% (5/27) of the cases in the DCC gene, 22.2% (6/27) of the cases in the MCC gene, to 25% (2/8) of the cases in the Rb gene. For chromosome 11 studies, 11 polymorphic markers (Ha-z-as, DllS1251, DllS325, WT-33, catalase, NEGF, DllS149, PYGM, DllS146, INT-2, and ApoAl) were used to detect genetic changes on both the p and q arms of...[ Read more ]

Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes have been implicated as being involved in the pathogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, 55 NSCLC Hong Kong Chinese patients were examined for the occurrence of genetic alterations in 4 tumor suppressor genes and chromosome 11 involvement. For the 4 tumor suppressor genes studied, genetic alterations were detected ranging from 4.8% (2/42) of the cases in the APC gene, 18.5% (5/27) of the cases in the DCC gene, 22.2% (6/27) of the cases in the MCC gene, to 25% (2/8) of the cases in the Rb gene. For chromosome 11 studies, 11 polymorphic markers (Ha-z-as, DllS1251, DllS325, WT-33, catalase, NEGF, DllS149, PYGM, DllS146, INT-2, and ApoAl) were used to detect genetic changes on both the p and q arms of the chromosome. Mutations were detected ranging from 0% (WT-33, catalase, and NEGF) to 27.3% (3/11) at the Ha-ras locus. Most of the mutations were mainly detected at 3 chromosomal locations: 11P15 (Ha-ras locus), llpll-q12 (DllS149 locus), and llq13 (INT-2 locus) . Females had a higher frequency of mutations than males at the 11P15 and llq13 regions, while males had a higher frequency of mutation at the llqll-q12 region. The llq12-q13 (PYGM and INT-2) region was involved in all stages of tumor development. The 11P15 region (Ha-ras and DllS1251 loci) was also involved in many cases. These findings are similar to those previously reported by other research groups. The 11P15 region is frequently mutated in NSCLC in Caucasians, Japanese, and . Chinese. The llq13 region is mutated in Chinese and Caucasians. The llq23 region is frequently mutated in Japanese but not in Chinese.