Loss of heterozygosity and homozygous deletions on 9p21-22 in melanoma

Recent studies have implicated chromosome 9p21-22 as a location for a gene involved in cutaneous melanoma (CM). Deletion mapping in 35 matched tumour-constitutional DNA pairs from metastatic melanomas (including one melanoma cell line) and one dysplastic naevus has been performed using six short tandem repeat polymorphic (STRP) markers (D9S157-D9S162-IFNA-D9S171-D9S126-D9S104) which span approximately 19 cM across the 9p21-22 region. Both heterozygous and homozygous deletions were observed across the region in melanomas from both sporadic and familial cases. Overall 57% (20/35) of the samples displayed some form of loss. A deletion map identifies two areas of common loss either side of the interferon gene cluster. familial CM has previously been shown to link to the more proximal of these regions. The deleted region distal to IFNA has not been previously described in melanoma. The results imply the involvement of more than one tumour suppressor gene on 9p in CM.