Towards the isolation of a human malignant extragonadal germ cell tumour-associated breakpoint in chromosome 11q13.

In a previous study we have defined a subgroup of human malignant extragonadal germ cell tumours that is characterized by complex translocations involving chromosomes 6 and 11 (Echten et al. 1995). Here we report (i) the use of fluorescent in situ hybridization, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and direct visual hybridization techniques to localize the tumour-associated breakpoint within band 11q13, and (ii) the construction of a phage library enriched for this region to facilitate genomic walks towards the breakpoint. Extensive breakpoint-flanking contigs were generated and within these contigs six candidate genes could be identified.