[A study of loss of heterozygosity and mRNA expression at DCC locus in gastric cancers].

To evaluate the role of DCC gene alteration in the development and progression of gastric cancer, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and mRNA expression of DCC gene was examined in surgically resected gastric cancer specimens using PCR-RFLP and RT-PCR analyses. LOH was detected in 18 (35.3%) of 51 informative cancers specimens. The frequency of LOH in stages III and IV (50.0%) was significantly higher than that in stages I and II (14.3%, P < 0.05%), but LOH was not correlated to histological types, tumor size, invasion depth and lymph node metastases. Expression of DCC mRNA in 26/51 cases was examined and the DCC expression was lost in 8/26 (30.7%) cancer, and no significant correlation was found between loss of DCC expression or LOH and clinico-pathologic parameters. LOH and loss of expression at DCC gene occur frequently in gastric cancers, LOH at DCC locus is a late event.