Expression of the tumour suppressor genes p15 and p16 in malignant melanoma

Abstract

Recent evidence has suggested the presence of a malignant melanoma (MM) related gene on human chromosome 9p21, the location of the putative tumour suppressor genes p15 and p16. DNA from patients with familial MM, from MM cell lines and sporadic MM cases has been examined for coding region and splice junction mutations of the p16 gene, but expression studies of both genes from the same cells have not been reported. We used the polymerase chain reaction to analyse p16 and p15 expression in 23 MM cell lines. Fourteen lines (61%) did not express either gene. Six (26%) expressed pie and eight (35%) expressed p15. Expression patterns were concordant in most cases (83%), but one line (4%) expressed..