Detection of somatic changes in human cancer DNA by DNA fingerprint analysis

Minisatellite DNA probes which can detect a large number of autosomal loci dispersed throughout the human genome were used to examine the constitutional and tumour DNA of 35 patients with a variety of cancers of which eight were of gastrointestinal origin. Somatic changes were seen in the tumour DNA in ten of the 35 cases. The changes included alterations in the relative intensities of hybridising DNA fragments, and, in three cases of cancers of gastrointestinal origin, the appearance of novel minisatellite fragments not seen in the corresponding constitutional DNA. The results of this preliminary study suggests that DNA fingerprint analysis provides a useful technique for identifying somatic changes in cancers. ; SLT is a Wellcome Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Science. AJJ is a Lister Institute Research Fellow. This work was supported in part by a grant to AJJ from the Medical Research Council. JSW is supported in part by the Cancer Research Campaign. The minisatellite probes are the subject of patent applications. Commercial enquiries should be addressed to the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine, Brockley Hill, Stanmore, Middlesex, U.K. ; Peer-reviewed ; Publisher Version