Allele loss on chromosome 11p is associated with poor survival in ovarian cancer.

RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) analysis in 46 ovarian tumour and paired blood samples shows that 33 per cent (5/15) of informative carcinomas had loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 11p15.4 (Calcitonin locus) and 18% (4/22) had LOH at 11p15.5 (Ha-ras). No LOH was detected in five borderline and four benign ovarian tumours. Analysis of survival in the carcinoma group (37 patients) showed a significantly poorer survival in patients whose tumours showed LOH at either or both of these 11p loci (chi 2 = 7.771, p = 0.005). This suggests the presence of a tumour suppressor gene (tsg) on the short arm of chromosome 11 whose loss is associated with particularly aggressive disease.