MAPPING OF TRANSFORMING GROWTH-FACTOR ALPHA-GENE ON HUMAN CHROMOSOME-2 CLOSE TO THE BREAKPOINT OF THE BURKITTS-LYMPHOMA T(2,8) VARIANT TRANSLOCATION

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  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 45  (11) , 5593-5597
Abstract
Transforming growth factors (TGFs) are defined as biologically active polypeptides which reversibly confer the transformed phenotype onto untransformed cultured cells. TGF-.alpha. shows sequence homology with epidermal growth factor and competes with epidermal growth factor for binding to the epidermal growth factor receptor, stimulating the phosphorylation of the receptor. TGF-.alpha. is secreted by many transformed cells and may be involved in embryonic development. A cloned human TGF-.alpha. gene was used to map the locus for the TGF-.alpha. precursor to the short arm of human chromosome 2, region 2p11 .fwdarw. 2p13, by Southern blotting techniques with DNA prepared from rodent .times. human somatic cell hybrids. These hybrids contained different subsets of human chromosomes and included a set with a translocation between human chromosome 1 and 2 [t(1;2) (q32;q13)]. In situ hybridization of the TGF-.alpha. probe to normal human metaphase spreads confirmed these data and localized TGF-.alpha. more precisely to bands 2p11 .fwdarw. 2p13. Breakpoints in the variant Burkitt lymphoma translocation t(2;8) occur within these bands. Such a t(2;8) translocation could place TGF-.alpha. next to c-myc in band 8q24. The possibility is raised that TGF-.alpha. might contribute to tumor progression in these cases of Burkitt''s lymphoma.

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