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Racial variation in the distribution of Ha‐ ras ‐1 alleles
Author(s) -
Weston Ainsley,
Vineis Paolo,
Caporaso Neil E.,
Krontiris Theodore G.,
Lonergan Joyce A.,
Sugimura Haruhiko
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
molecular carcinogenesis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.254
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1098-2744
pISSN - 0899-1987
DOI - 10.1002/mc.2940040404
Subject(s) - biology , allele , locus (genetics) , lung cancer , restriction enzyme , genetics , oncogene , restriction fragment length polymorphism , genomic dna , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer , genotype , gene , medicine , cell cycle
Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses of the Ha‐ ras ‐1 proto‐oncogene were undertaken in white and black populations residing in the Baltimore‐Washington metropolitan area to address whether specific rare alleles of the Ha‐ ras ‐1 proto‐oncogene locus vary in their distribution among different racial groups. High‐molecular‐weight genomic DNA samples from the lungs of 80 lung cancer patients and 92 accident victims were digested with appropriate restriction enzymes and subjected to Southern analysis using the 6.6‐kb BamHl human Ha‐ ras ‐1 recombinant fragment from the plasmid pEC. Thirty allelomorphs of different sizes were detected among the 172 study subjects. An association was observed between race and specific alleles. Rare alleles were more frequent in black cancer patients and trauma victims than in whites. Within each racial category, lung cancer patients had an excess of rare alleles. These data indicate the importance of controlling for racial variation when designing studies to determine human cancer risk factors.