Abstract
GENOMIC imprinting has been implicated in the onset of several embryonal tumours but the mechanism is not well understood1–3. Maternal chromosome 11p15 loss of heterozygosity4 and paternal chromosome 11 isodisomy5,6 suggest that imprinted genes are involved in the onset of Wilms' tumour and the Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome. The insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2) gene located at 11pl5.5 has been put forward as a candidate gene as it is maternally imprinted (paternally expressed) in the mouse7, and is expressed at high levels in Wilms' tumours8,9. We report here that the IGF2 gene is expressed from the paternal allele in human fetal tissue, but that in Wilms' tumour expression can occur biallelically. These results provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence that relaxation of imprinting may play a role in the onset of disease and suggest a new genetic mechanism involved in the development of cancer.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wilkins, R. J. The Lancet i, 329–331 (1988).
Reik, W. & Surani, M. A. Nature 338, 112–113 (1989).
Ponder, B. Nature 340, 264 (1989).
Junien, C., Van Heyningen, V., Evans, G., Little, P. & Mannens, M. Genomics 12, 620–625 (1992).
Henry, I. et al. Nature 351, 665–667 (1991).
Grundy, P. et al. The Lancet 338, 1079–1080 (1991).
DeChiara, M., Robertson, E. J. & Efstratiadis, A. Cell 64, 849–859 (1991).
Reeve, A. E., Eccles, M. R., Wilkins, R. J., Bell, G. I. & Millow, L. J. Nature 317, 258–260 (1985).
Scott, J. et al. Nature 317, 261–262 (1985).
Tadokoro, K., Fujii, H., Inoue, T. & Yamada, M. Nucleic Acids Res. 19, 6967 (1991).
DeChiara, T. M., Efstradiadis, A. & Robertson, E. J. Nature 345, 78–80 (1990).
Little, M., van Heyningnen, V. & Hastie, N. Nature 351 609–610 (1991).
Olshan, A. F. Cander Genet. Cytogenet. 21, 303–307 (1986).
Reik, W. Trends Genet. 5, 331–336 (1989).
Moore, T. & Haig, D. Trends Genet. 7, 45–49 (1991).
Ferguson-Smith, A. C., Cattanach, B. M., Barton, S. C., Beechey, C. V. & Surani, M. A. Nature 351, 667–670 (1991).
Koufos, A. et al. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 44, 711–719 (1989).
Aleck, K. A. & Hadro, T. A. Am. J. med. Genet. 33, 155–160 (1989).
Moutou, C., Junien, C., Henry, I. & Bonaiti-Pellie, C. J. Med. Genet. 29, 217–220 (1992).
Vijoen, D. & Ramesar, R. J. med Genet. 29, 221–225 (1992).
Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F. & Maniatis, T. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual 2nd edn (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York, 1989).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ogawa, O., Eccles, M., Szeto, J. et al. Relaxation of insulin-like growth factor II gene imprinting implicated in Wilms' tumour. Nature 362, 749–751 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/362749a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/362749a0
