Oncology

E.R. Fearon, K.R. Cho, J.M. Nigro, S.E. Kern, et al., "Identification of a chromosome 18q gene that is altered in colorectal cancers," Science, 247, 49-56, 5 January 1990.

Eric R. Fearon (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore): "Tumor suppressor genes appear crucial for the development of many forms of human cancer. In the cited study, we attempted to identify a tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 18q. Starting from a region of chromosome 18 that we suspected to contain this gene, we cloned a large stretch of DNA (370 kilobases) by chromosome walking techniques. Taking advantage of homologous sequences in the rat, and a sensitive assay for RNA expression, we were eventually able to identify a gene, called DCC (for deleted in colorectal cancer), that was somatically mutated in some colorectal cancers and expressed at reduced levels in most colorectal tumors. The predicted amino acid sequence of this gene specified...