[Amplification of the erbb-2 (Her-2/NEU), erbb-1 (HER-1) and c-myc oncogenes is often combined with the deletion of the short arm of chromosome 17 in human carcinoma].

Amplification of oncogenes erbb-2, erbb-1, c-myc and losses of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosomes 11p (probe hras-1), 17p (probe ynz-22) and 17q (probe thh-59) were studied in 165 human tumours (60 breast, 22 ovary, 40 colorectal, 23 lung, and 20 thyroid carcinomas). The correlation (P < 0.01) between the increased copy number of mentioned oncogenes and LOH at 17p was demonstrated for tumours tested: extra copies of these oncogenes were revealed in 11 of 46 DNA specimens with LOH on ynz-22, but only in 3 of 61 without LOH. This correlation was mostly due to frequent combinations between erbb-2 amplification and 17p deletions; the incidence of increased copy number of erbb-1 and c-myc oncogenes was not high enough for final conclusions about the association of their alterations with LOH at chromosome 17p.