[Deletion and down-regulation of mts1/p16 gene in human gastric cancer].

Deletion of mts1/p16 gene was frequently detected in many human tumor cell lines. However, whether alteration of the p16 gene was involved in human gastric carcinogenesis, it is not clear. In order to determine the incidence and correlation of the p16 gene deletion with human gastric cancer, we performed analyses of PCR, Southern and Northern blotting on 85 fresh tumor specimens and 5 tumor cell lines from gastric cancer patients. Homozygous deletion was observed in 1 cell line and down-regulation of expression was observed in 3. High rate of gene deletion was detected by PCR in 14 of 85 fresh tumor tissues. Gene deletion was confirmed by Southern blot analysis with p16 cDNA probe in 6 out of 26 tumor specimens examined.