Poor correlation with loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 17p and p53 mutations in ovarian cancers.

To define the target of chromosome 17p deletions, allelic losses in the 17p11.2 to 13.3 regions of 32 ovarian cancers were investigated. Twenty-one (68%) of 31 informative cancers had deletions on chromosome 17p. None of these 21 cancers involved deletions in the entire chromosome 17p even if deletions of a small chromosome region were infrequent. Of these 21, 17 cancers contained deletions at 17p13.1 or neighboring regions. The remaining 4 cancers with 17p deletions were uninformative for deletions at 17p13.1. Thus, most 17p deletions seemed to target the 17p13.1 region in ovarian cancers. Of the 30 ovarian cancers screened, 6 contained p53 mutations. One p53 allele was lost as a consequence of deletion and the other was mutated in 4 cancers. Seventeen cancers with deletions on 17p showed no evidence of p53 mutations. Thus, deletions on 17p that are common in ovarian cancers are not always accompanied by p53 gene mutations.