Occurrence of p53 Gene Abnormalities in Gastric Carcinoma Tumors and Cells Lines

We explored the state of the p53 gene in gastric cancer. Using one or more methods, we examined 15 specimens from primary carcinomas (14 tumors, one cell line), five cell lines derived from metastases, and seven paired samples of nonmalignant gastric mucosa. Sequence analysis of complementary DNA containing the entire p53 gene open reading frame demonstrated abnormalities in one of five samples from primary tumors and in all five samples from metastases. The single cell line derived from a primary carinoma had no abnormality of the gene. The six abnormalities included four points mutations, one base–pair delection resulting in a frame shift, and a 24 base–pair delection caused by an intronic point mutation (as determined by sequence analysis of genomic DNA). Four of the six mutations mapped to regions highly conserved among species or involved in simian virus 40 T–antigen binding. Restriction fragment length polyphism studies confirmed that chromosome 17p allelic deletions occur only in a minority of primary tumors, but that they may occur more frequently in metastases. Northern blotting and ribonuclease protection assays detected only a fraction of the p53 gene abnormalities detected by sequencing.Our findings indicate that mutations of the p53 gene are relatively rate in primary gastric tumors but appear to be relatively frequent in cells lines derived from metastatic lesions. Our results may help in understanding the molecular events associated with progression and metastasis in gastric carcinoma. [J Natl Cancer Inst 83:938—943, 1991]