This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Davies, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Davies, S. M.

Maintenance of Genomic Imprinting at the IGF2 Locus in Hepatoblastoma¹

Divisions of Pediatric Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

Genomic imprinting is the parental allele specific expression of genes and has recently been shown to occur in humans. Evidence for a role for genomic imprinting in human cancer comes from the finding of preferential retention of paternal alleles in embryonal tumors undergoing loss of heterozygosity, e.g., Wilms' tumor and osteogenic sarcoma. Recent studies have demonstrated imprinting of the insulin-like growth factor II gene at 11p15 in normal individuals, with the paternally inherited allele expressed and the maternal allele silent. It has been shown that normal imprinting is relaxed, and gene expression is biallelic in a majority of Wilms' tumors which retain heterozygosity at this locus. In this study an intragenic ApaI polymorphism is used to examine imprinting of the insulin-like growth factor II gene in hepatoblastoma. Three of 5 tumors studied were heterozygous and hence informative. All cases showed monoallelic expression of the insulin-like growth factor II gene, indicating maintenance of normal imprinting at this locus.

¹ This study was funded by The Children's Cancer Research Fund.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Box 484 UMHC, 420 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Received 8/23/93. Accepted 9/13/93.