Deletion mapping on the short arm of chromosome 8 in hepatocellular carcinoma

To define the commonly deleted region on chromosome 8p for further positional cloning of the putative tumor suppressor gene, we carried out allelic imbalance (AI) studies in 41 HCCs using a panel of 37 microsatellite markers. The overall AI on 8p was 87.8% (36 of 41). Among the 36 cases with AI, 13 cases showed AI in all of the loci, suggesting entire deletion on the short arm of chromosome 8, while the remaining 23 cases showed partial AI. Detailed deletion mapping identified two independent commonly deleted regions on chromosome 8p. These were as follows: (1) centered by the D8S1819 and D8S1706 loci between the D8S561 and D8S1825 loci, (2) centered by the D8S1733 locus between the D8S298 and D8S1739 loci. These results suggest that the two putative tumor suppressor genes may be present on chromosome 8p.