Sporadic breast cancers exhibit loss of heterozygosity on chromosome segment 10q23 close to the Cowden disease locus.

Cowden disease, a dominantly inherited syndrome characterized by a variety of proliferative lesions and predisposition to breast and thyroid cancer, has recently been linked to the polymorphic marker D10S215 on chromosome segment 10q23. Loss of heterozygosity in prostate cancer is linked to the same marker, whereas loss of heterozygosity in glioblastoma, endometrial cancer, and other malignancies also localizes to this region. Most recently, a putative tumor suppressor gene (PTEN/MMAC1) has been identified in the region between D10S215 and an adjacent, more telomeric marker (D10S541) and was found to be altered in breast cancers, prostate cancers, and glioblastomas. We examined 22 invasive breast cancers for loss of heterozygosity in the 10q23 region and found loss in 41% (9/22). There were two distinct regions of loss, including one near the D10S541 marker, with an approximately equal frequency of deletion in each. The observed pattern of deletion is consistent with the presence of a tumor suppressor gene between D10S215 and D10S541. Most of the poorly differentiated carcinomas in the case collection showed loss of heterozygosity in the region near D10S215, suggesting that this loss correlates with a poor prognosis.