Expression and structure of hox genes in wilms-tumor

We have investigated the expression of all 38 human HOX genes in Wilms' tumour (WT) tissue, and the structure of the HOXA cluster (at chromosome 7p15) in a WT patient who has a novel constitutional chromosome translocation (t(1;7)(q42;p15)). No rearrangement of the HOXA genes was found in the translocation patient, but between 26 and 28 HOX genes were expressed in WT tissue. Thus, although it appears unlikely that HOX genes are mutated in WT, their extensive expression in WT indicates that HOX genes may well be important factors in the aberrant differentiation which leads to Wilms' tumour.