Recent studies in our laboratory indicated that inactivation of a putative tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 9q is likely to be associated with an early step of esophageal carcinogenesis. To further define a region containing the putative tumor suppressor gene, we have examined loss of heterozygosity in 37 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas using 14 microsatellite markers mapped to 9q31–q34.1. Loss of heterozygosity was observed in 30 (81%) of 37 tumors at one or more of the loci examined, and partial or interstitial deletions at 9q31–q34.1 were detected in 13 of these tumors. On the basis of these results, we constructed a detailed deletion map and defined a commonly deleted region between the D9S262 and D9S154 loci at 9q31–q32. The genetic distance between these two loci is estimated to be approximately 4 cM.

1

Supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture of Japan.

This content is only available via PDF.