Loss of heterozygosity in the tuberous sclerosis gene associated regions in adenocarcinoma of the lung accompanied by multiple atypical adenomatous hyperplasia.

To investigate the potential allelic loss of tumor suppressor gene loci in the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-associated regions located on the long arm of chromosome 9 (9q) and on the short arm of chromosome 16 (16p) in human lung carcinoma, we analyzed 21 paired normal and tumor DNAs with 11 polymorphic markers on the chromosomes. All tumors were adenocarcinoma of the lung, which included 9 adenocarcinomas with associated multiple atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH). A precise microdissection technique followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to prevent under-evaluation of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was used. Twelve of the 21 (57%) adenocarcinomas displayed LOH on 9q. Five of the 21 adenocarcinomas (24%) showed LOH at all informative loci on 9q, whereas 7 (33%) demonstrated partial LOH on 9q34. Among these 21, 5 (24%) showed partial LOH between D9S149 and D9S150, where TSC1 is located. The incidence of associated AAH was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma harboring a partial LOH in the TSC1-associated region (p = 0.0048). Twelve of the 21 (57%) adenocarcinomas displayed LOH on 16p. No significant differences in the clinico-pathological characteristics could be discerned between adenocarcinomas with and without LOH on 16p. When combining these data, a partial LOH at TSC1- and/or TSC2-associated loci was observed more frequently in cases with well-differentiated adenocarcinoma (p = 0.086) and associated AAH (p = 0.081). In conclusion, our results suggest that the TSC-associated regions are new candidate loci for tumor suppressor genes in lung adenocarcinoma, especially when it is accompanied by multiple AAH.