A frequent polymorphism of the gene mutated in ataxia telangiectasia

The gene mutated in ataxia telangiectasia (AT), the ATM gene, has recently been cloned and shown to encode a multi-domain protein with homology to cell-cycle regulators. We report here an intragenic restriction fragment length polymorphism of the ATM gene that is common in the German population with allele frequencies of 0.56 and 0.44, respectively. Observed heterozygosity approximated 50% in healthy individuals as well as in 152 randomly selected breast cancer patients. We present a simple and rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay for this dimorphism that should be useful to trace the inheritance of ATM alleles in ataxia telangiectasia and breast cancer families and to study loss of heterozygosity in primary tumours.