Loss of genes on the short arm of chromosome 11 in human lung carcinomas.

Since loss of genes on the short arm of chromosome 11 (11p) is known to be closely associated with several human tumors, we analyzed DNA of lung carcinomas from 45 patients with respect to loss of heterozygosity at loci on 11p. We observed that loss of heterozygosity at 11p loci was quite frequent (17 of 41 informative cases, 41%) and it appeared that the loss might be associated with more advanced carcinomas than those of stage Ia. In many cases, sequences at the CAT and/or the D11S12-IGF2 loci were commonly deleted. These observations suggest that loss of genes at particular regions on 11p might be involved in progression of human lung carcinomas.