Loss of heterozygosity for alleles on chromosomes 11q and 14q in neuroblastoma.

Partial monosomy for the short arm of chromosome 1 is a frequent cytogenetic abnormality in neuroblastomas. Molecular genetic analysis of tumor samples using chromosome specific polymorphic DNA markers has identified somatic loss of heterozygosity for alleles on chromosomes 1p (1p36.1-1p36.3) and 14q. In order to determine if other chromosomal losses occur and to further investigate chromosome 14, we used polymorphic DNA markers localized to chromosome 11 and 14 to analyze fifteen neuroblastomas and corresponding constitutional cells. Somatic loss of heterozygosity was observed in 5 of 12 informative cases (42%) for chromosome 11q (11q13-11q23) and 4 of 12 cases (33%) for chromosome 14q specific alleles. Two of the five tumors that had lost 11q alleles retained heterozygous alleles for sequences on 14q. The other three samples had lost both the 11q and 14q allelic sequences. These results suggest that in addition to chromosomes 1p and 14q, sequences localized to 11q may also play an important role in the development and/or progression of neuroblastomas.