Substantial reduction of the gastric carcinoma critical region at 6q16.3-q23.1

Deletions of the long arm of chromosome 6 are a common event in gastric carcinomas. In a previous study, deletion mapping of 6q identified two smallest regions of overlap (SROs) of heterozygous deletions: one interstitial, spanning 12-16 cM, bordered by D6S268 (6q16.3-q21) and ARG1 (6q22.3-q23.1), and one distal to IFNGR1 (6q23-q24), spanning more than 30 cM. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the interstitial SRO was detected in 50% of informative tumors. We analyzed 60 primary gastric tumors with 19 highly polymorphic markers from 6q16.3-q23.3 to delimit the interstitial SRO further. Of the 50 tumors that were informative for at least one locus, 18 (36%) showed allelic imbalance (AI). The overlap of these cases allowed us to define an SRO of approximately 3 Mb flanked by D6S278 and D6S404. AI or LOH of this region occurs in all histologic types of gastric carcinoma and in early stages of development, indicating that loss of a gene from this region of 6q is a crucial step in a main route of gastric carcinogenesis. For cases with retention of 6q, alternative routes of gastric carcinogenesis may exist. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 26:29-34, 1999.

Effect of resorbable calcium aluminate ceramics on regulation of calcium and phosphorus in rats

Ions released from resorbable ceramics could be toxic to the animal. Experiments were designed to study the effect of implanting three different weights of porous resorbable calcium aluminate ceramics (0.172, 0.332, and 0.504 g) in rats for a total duration of 300 days. Gross and microscopic examination of heart, liver, kidneys, trachea with thyroid, and muscle adjacent to the implant did not show any pathological changes. Calcium and inorganic phosphate content of bone, serum and urine were not affected by the implants. Urine hydroxyproline excretion did not change in the animals implanted with ceramics. Animals implanted with 0.332 g of ceramics had a significantly higher serum alkaline phosphatase activity than the control animals. Resorption of calcium and depositon of inorganic phosphates in the implanted ceramics suggested that ions were being exchanged with the body fluids. Implantation of 0.172 to 0.332 g porous resorbable calcium aluminate ceramic was not toxic to the animal.