Expression of Tumor Suppression Gene in Childhood Cancer

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Childhood cancer is closely related to the mutation of tumor suppressor gene. The mutant gene may evoke congenital anomaly and development of cancer. The common solid tumors in childhood are Wilms' tumor, retinoblastoma and neuroblastoma. The cytogenetic study has been performed. The cytogentic study revealed structural abnormality of chromosome in Wilms' tumor and retinoblastoma. The oncogene and mutation of tumor suppressor gene are applicable to the study of carcinogenesis of childhood cancer. We studied to investigate the expression of p53, Rb and WT-1 in Wilms' tumor and retinoblastoma. METHODS: Immunohistochemical study has been performed to investigate the expression of p53, Rb and WT-1 in 7 cases of Wilms' tumor and 4 cases of retinoblastoma of childhood cancer. RESULTS: The positive reaction for p53, Rb and WT-l was seen in the nuclei of tumor cells. The positive reaction for tumor suppressor gene products in Wilms' tumor showed that p53 (mutant type) was 57.1%, Rb 85.7%, WT-l 28.6%. The immunohistochemistry for tumor suppressor gene products in retinoblastoma revealed that p53 protein (mutant type) was seen in all the cases, but Rb and WT-l protein were not seen. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that Wilms' tumor may be partially related with mutation of p53, Rb and WT-1, and retinoblastoma may have a relationship with mutation of p53 and Rb.