Many regions of the genome exhibit loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) suggesting sites of recessive genetic elements such as tumor suppressor genes. We performed detailed LOH studies of chromosomes 17 and 11 using 24 microsatellite repeat markers in a population of 47 patients with EOC. Univariate statistical analysis revealed that significant co-losses of chromosomal loci occurred between 17p and 17q whole arms (p=0.0003), NME1 (17q21) with D11S922 (11p15.5) (p=0.0067) and D11S912 (11q24) with D11S935 (11p13) (p=0.0073). Statistical analysis of the relationship between LOH on particular chromosomal arms and clinicopathological factors revealed a significant association between serous histological subtype of ovarian adenocarcinoma and chromosome 17p (p=0.0052) and telomeric 17q (p=0.0007) LOH. An analysis of specific polymorphic chromosomal loci demonstrated that adverse survival was significantly associated with LOH at 11q24 (p=0.0067) and 17q21 (p=0.0076). There were nonsignificant trends suggesting a relationship between chromosome 17p LOH and poorly differentiated (p=0.025) and advanced FIGO stage (p=0.031) tumours. Considering these statistical associations, a preliminary multistep model for involvement of chromosomes 11 and 17 in ovarian neoplasia can be constructed.

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