Detection of loss of heterozygosity in the RB gene in the patients with gastric carcinoma with PCR-VNTR

Objective: Detection of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of RB gene in patients with gastric carcinoma with PCR-VNTR. Methods: We investigated 37 patients with gastric carcinoma. DNA was prepared by standard methods from tumor tissues and normal gastric mucosa (20 cases). The amplification of the VNTR region was performed with PCR. PCR products were run in parallel lanes on 2% agarose gels and 6%PAGE. Results: All the normal gastric mucosa was found to have two different alleles for the VNTR region. Of the 37 cases, LOH was detected in the tumor tissues of 4 patients (10.8%). There was no significantly difference between the high, middle and low, non-differentiation tumor for the LOH of VNTR ( P >0.05). Conclusion: PCR-VNTR was a simple and rapid technique for the detection of LOH of RB gene in patients with gastric carcinoma, and it might be useful in the earlier diagnosis of gastric carcinoma.