The family of PITSLRE kinase genes, located in chromosome 1p36, has recently been associated with neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. In order to evaluate the role of these genes as putative tumor suppressor genes, we have analyzed the integrity of the coding region in primary tumors and its location relative to a neuroblastoma consensus deletion. A subset of aggressive neuroblastoma tumors with allelic loss of different parts of chromosome 1p were investigated. Single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), heteroduplex (HD) and sequencing analysis of tumor DNA did not reveal any significant changes in the coding region. In particular, a primary tumor with an interstitial allelic deletion in 1p36 did not reveal concomitant loss of heterozygosity of the PITSLRE gene region when analyzed with a C/T DNA sequence polymorphism in exon 5 of PITSLRE1. FISH analysis on neuroblastoma cell lines with small interstitial deletions and with a balanced translocation in 1p36 revealed that the PITSLRE gene cluster was localized distal to the neuroblastoma consensus deletion. against an involvement of the PITSLRE genes in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis.

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