Allelic status of chromosome 1 in neoplasms of the nervous system

By using five highly polymorphic markers, the allelic status of chromosome 1 was established in a series of 236 tumors of the nervous system, including all major histologic subtypes: gliomas, meningiomas, neurinomas, neuroblastomas, medulloblastomas, etc. Loss of alleles at 1p was observed at significant frequencies in neuroblastomas (26% of cases), meningiomas (32%), and malignant gliomas (37%) (primarily oligodendrogliomas [94%]). This anomaly was also detected in two of 23 neurinomas, two of three neurofibrosarcomas, one primary lymphoma, and two metastatic tumors of the brain. The analysis of tumors displaying partial 1p deletions suggests the existence of two distinct regions, 1p36 and 1p35-p32, in which loci nonrandomly involved in the development of neurogenic neoplasms might be located.