¹Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, TX 77030-4095, USA

²Department of Urology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, TX 77030-4095, USA

³Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, TX 77030-4095, USA

Correspondence to: Jacob Kagan, Section of Experimental Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Box 054, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, Texas TX 77030-4095, USA

We studied loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on human chromosome 13q in prostate cancer specimens to determine the location of a putative tumor suppressor gene (TSG) and to correlate these losses with the clinicopathological stage of the disease. Overall 13 (21%) of 61 specimens analysed had an allele loss on the long arm of chromosome 13. The most frequent (37%) LOH among the informative cases with allele losses was detected at the D13S284 locus on chromosome 13q14.3. A portion of the DNA segment that spans this locus and is flanked by the microsatellite loci D13S153 and D13S163 was lost in 85% of the specimens with allele losses and was designated as a LOH cluster region (LCR). The LCR spans more than 6 Mbp of DNA. The results suggest that a TSG relevant for the development of prostate cancer is located telomeric to the RB locus. There was a significant correlation (P=0.0024) between chromosome 13q LOH and advanced metastatic disease, suggesting that loss of 13q14.3 region is associated with prostate cancer progression. However, further research must be conducted to establish the identity and function of this putative TSG.

chromosome 13; prostate cancer; loss of heterozygosity; tumor suppressor gene