L-MYC allelotype in renal cell carcinoma.

The L-MYC restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) revealed by EcoR1 has been suggested to be of prognostic significance in lung, breast, and kidney cancer. The presence of the smaller allele, in either the homozygotic (S-S) or heterozygotic form (L-S), is felt to convey a worse prognosis than the homozygotic form for the larger allele (L-L). The significance of this relationship in lung cancer has been questioned recently. The objective of the present study was to test the prognostic significance of the L-MYC allelotype in a group of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. Tumor and normal tissue were obtained from 59 patients who underwent radical nephrectomy for RCC between 1986 and 1990. EcoR1 restriction digests were performed on isolated DNA and hybridized with the L-MYC probe. Allelotypes were correlated with pathologic parameters and clinical outcome using the chi 2 test. The L-MYC alleolotype (L-L versus L-S and S-S) did not correlate with any pathologic parameter or likelihood of disease recurrence and does not offer any clinical utility in patients with RCC.