Genomic aberrations in human hepatoblastomas detected by 2-dimensional gel analysis

Hepatoblastoma is a frequent embryonic tumor found in children. The mechanism of its formation and development remain unknown. We analyzed genomic DNA aberrations associated with three hepatoblastomas by means of restriction landmark genomic scanning (I. Hatada et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88:9523-9527, 1991). About 2000 NotI restriction landmarks were monitored in each of the hepatoblastomas, which revealed that the intensity of eight spots decreased in the tumor genome, suggesting allelic loss. Three of these spots were identical to those that decreased in human hepatocellular carcinomas. These results suggested that common, early events are involved in the genesis of the two types of liver tumor.