Objective: To determine whether the FHIT gene at 3p14.2 is abnormal in Chinese lung cancers.
Methods: Matched normal and cancerous tissues from 21 cases of primary pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma (SQC) and 10 cases of adenocarcinoma (ADC) were obtained immediately after surgery. Total RNA was extracted and the FHIT gene was detected by RT-PCR and DNA sequencing technology.
Results: Normal-sized FHIT transcript was detected in all 31 cases of normal matched tissues. Aberrant transcripts were observed in 15 (48%) of 31 cases of cancerous tissues, 57% (12/21) in SQC and 33% (3/10) in ADC, respectively. All the abnormal transcripts observed lacked exon 5, the first coding exon. The sequence analyses of the aberrant cDNAs revealed deletions of various regions between exon 4 and 10. A synonymous mutation in E8, codon98CAT(H)-->CAC(H), was found in a SQC.
Conclusion: The high deletion rate of the FHIT gene in Chinese lung cancer supports the hypothesis that the FHIT gene alteration is involved in tumorigenic development of human neoplasm.