Rare Ha-ras1 alleles and predisposition to testicular cancer

We have examined the restriction-fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) of the VNTR region flanking the Ha-ras1 gene in genomic DNA from 348 testicular cancer patients and 343 healthy controls. When DNA samples were digested with MspI/HpaII, Southern blot analysis revealed 24 and 15 different alleles in the cancer and the control group respectively. The frequency of rare alleles among cases was significantly higher than in controls. Patients with bilateral cancer and patients with unilateral cancer below 20 years had significantly higher incidence of rare alleles than patients with unilateral cancer older than 20 years.