Assessing the significance of chromosome-loss data: where are suppressor genes for bladder cancer?

Cytogenetic analysis reveals alterations of chromosome structure (losses, gains, and rearrangements of genetic material) in bladder cancer cells generated using an in vitro/in vivo transformation system. To predict possible locations of bladder cancer suppressor genes, we performed a robust Bayesian analysis of the chromosome-loss data. We postulated a simple stochastic model to describe chromosome loss during tumour progression. Posterior computations are enabled by a dynamic simulation algorithm. Ordered by decreasing posterior probability of putatively harbouring a suppressor gene, we observe significant losses on chromosomes 3, 18, 13, 10, 11, and y.