Analysis of the 11p13 Wilms' Tumor Suppressor Gene (WTI) in Ovarian Tumors

Abstract
We have examined the status of the Wilms' tumor suppressor gene (W77), residing at chromosome II band p13, in a total of 40 cancers of the female reproductive tract. Northern blot analysis revealed that the WTI gene is expressed in a large percentage of ovarian tumors (75%) analyzed. Single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis was performed on all the tumors in this study in an attempt to detect mutations within the WTI gene. Only silent mutations were detected within intron 7 of WTI using this method. Loss of heterozygosity studies were performed at the WTI locus in several ovarian tumors and revealed that in the informative cases, heterozygosity was retained.