The small cell lung cancer antigen cluster-4 and the leukocyte antigen CD24 are allelic isoforms of the same gene (CD24) on chromosome band 6q21.

Cluster-4 and CD24 cDNA's have recently been cloned from the small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cell line SW2 and from the erythroleukemia cell line K562, respectively. The only difference in the coding sequence, between cluster-4 and CD24 antigens is the substitution of a single base pair leading to a substitution of Val by Ala near the putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchorage sites of the mature protein. Here we demonstrate that the nucleotide substitution which distinguishes the cluster-4 and CD24 antigen genes is due to an allelic polymorphism on chromosome band 6q21. In addition, we identified by Southern blotting and PCR of DNA from somatic human x hamster hybrid cell lines homologues of cluster-4/CD24 on the Y chromosome and chromosome 15. We suggest, however, that the gene on 6q21 is the active locus since the mRNA of cell lines always represents the allelic variants found on chromosome 6. The distribution pattern of this allelic polymorphism in SCLC cell lines and leukocytes of healthy donors did not reveal any obvious relationship with disease. However, it is noteworthy that homozygosity for cluster-4 was found in only one case whereas heterozygosity and homozygosity for CD24 both contribute up to 50% of the samples examined.