Abstract
Although genetic alterations of chromosome band 9p21 – 22 occur frequently in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines, alterations of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4a located in this region are less common in corresponding primary tumors. To further investigate genetic alterations at 9p21 – 22 and p16INK4a in primary HNSCC, a paired set of 21 tumors and blood specimens that were shown previously to exhibit allelic loss at 3p and elsewhere, were tested for LOH at 9p21 – 22 using eight different highly polymorphic marker. Sixteen of the samples (81%) exhibited LOH for at least one marker. Frequent LOH was found surrounding p16INK4a and at three additional non-contiguous regions of 9p21 – 22. No homozygous deletions were identified. SSCP screening and direct sequence analysis led to the identification of mutations the p16INK4a gene in two tumors. p16INK4a was not hypermethylated in any of the samples studied. Furthermore, there was no correlation between LOH at 9p21 – 22 and the RB1 tumor suppressor gene. These findings indicate that in the set of tumors that we tested, LOH at 9p21 – 22 is common in primary HNSCC but that genetic alterations of p16INK4a located in this region are unusual. Additional tumor suppressor genes at 9p21 – 22 may therefore be involved in the pathogenesis of this tumor.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 50 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $5.18 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Waber, P., Dlugosz, S., Cheng, QC. et al. Genetic alterations of chromosome band 9p21 – 22 in head and neck cancer are not restricted to p16INK4a. Oncogene 15, 1699–1704 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1201336
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1201336
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Microsatellite alteration and immunohistochemical expression profile of chromosome 9p21 in patients with sporadic renal cell carcinoma following surgical resection
BMC Cancer (2016)
-
Common genetic variants in the 9p21 region and their associations with multiple tumours
British Journal of Cancer (2013)
-
Mutational analysis of CDKN2A gene in a group of 390 larynx cancer patients
Molecular Biology Reports (2010)
-
Epigenetische Aspekte bei Karzinomen der Kopf-Hals-Region
HNO (2008)
-
The clinical relevance of microsatellite alterations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a critical review
European Journal of Human Genetics (2007)