Isolation of 45 exon-like fragments from 8p22->p21.3, a region that is commonly deleted in hepatocellular, colorectal, and non-small cell lung carcinomas

The loss of heterozygosity that is frequently observed at chromosome 8p22 --> p21.3 in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), colorectal cancers (CRC), prostate cancers (PRC), and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), suggests the presence there of one or more tumor suppressor genes associated with development and/or progression of these types of carcinomas. We have constructed a cosmid contig map of the target region by means of Southern hybridization and have isolated 45 exon-like fragments by exon amplification, using cosmid clones derived from three yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs). The map and the exon-like fragments reported here will be useful resources for isolation of the putative tumor suppressor gene(s) as well as other novel genes located in the 8p22 --> p21.3 region.