USE OF REPRESENTATIONAL DIFFERENCE ANALYSIS FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF MDM2 ONCOGENE AMPLIFICATION IN DIETHYLSTILBESTROL-INDUCED MURINE UTERINE ADENOCARCINOMAS

Exposure in utero to the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) is associated with the subsequent development of reproductive-tract malignancies in female offspring. To search for the genetic targets of DES, representational difference analysis was used to compare genomic DNA from DES-associated mouse uterine adenocarcinoma cells with genomic DNA from normal CD-1 mouse tissue. Several difference clones were obtained, all of which recognized rearranged and amplified sequences in tumor compared with normal DNA. One of these difference fragments mapped to a region of mouse chromosome 10 that includes the mdm2 oncogene. Amplification and overexpression of mdm2 was found in all three early-passage cell lines established from independent DES-associated cancers. These findings demonstrate the potential power of representational difference analysis in cancer research and suggest a genetic mechanism for DES-induced carcinogenesis. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.(*)