THE PUTATIVE MELANOMA TUMOR-SUPPRESSOR GENE ON HUMAN CHROMOSOME-6Q

The tumorigenicity of malignant melanoma cells may be suppressed experimentally by the introduction into these cells of human chromosome 6 or mouse chromosome 4. These chromosomes share a homologous region, contained in human chromosome 6q12-21. Abnormalities of this human chromosomal region have been found frequently not only in cutaneous and uveal malignant melanomas, but also in a range of other tumors. In all these, mutations of tumor-suppressor genes on human chromosome 6q may be involved. Identification of this putative tumor-suppressor gene may give new insights into the biology of malignant melanomas, and could pave the way for new treatment for such tumors, based upon the tumor-suppressor protein which this gene is likely to encode.