Analysis of the 11p13 Wilms' tumor suppressor gene (WT1) in ovarian tumors.

We have examined the status of the Wilms' tumor suppressor gene (WT1), residing at chromosome 11 band p13, in a total of 40 cancers of the female reproductive tract. Northern blot analysis revealed that the WT1 gene is expressed in a large percentage of ovarian tumors (75%) analyzed. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis was performed on all the tumors in this study in an attempt to detect mutations within the WT1 gene. Only silent mutations were detected within intron 7 of WT1 using this method. Loss of heterozygosity studies were performed at the WT1 locus in several ovarian tumors and revealed that in the informative cases, heterozygosity was retained.