Analysis of the novel cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor gene p18 in lymphoma and leukemia cell lines

The genes for the CDK4/6-inhibitors p16 INK4A/MTS1 and p15 INK4B/MTS2 are frequently deleted in hematological malignancies. A new member of this family of CDK4/6 inhibitors is p18. In order to assess p18 growth-suppressor gene alterations in hematological neoplasms, we investigated 31 lymphoma and leukemia cell lines by PCR for both exons of this gene. No homozygous deletions were observed. Investigation of a new intragenic restriction fragment length polymorphism revealed no differences in allele distribution between the tumor cell lines and healthy volunteers. Our results suggest that homozygous deletion of the p18 gene does not play a major role in leukemogenesis or lymphomagenesis.