Few studies on sarcomas have examined the relationships between microsatellite alterations in particular loci, tumor prognosis and tumorigenesis, because sarcomas are uncommon and those prognoses can be confounded by coexisting factors, such as tumor site. We studied the relationship between microsatellite alterations and prognosis in 31 patients with thoracic sarcoma. The frequency of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 17p13 in stage IV sarcomas was significantly higher than that in stage I and III sarcomas (p<0.05). The 5-year survival for patients with LOH at 17p13 was significantly lower than that for patients without LOH (p<0.05). Six of 31 cases (19.4%) revealed replication error. These results suggest that p53 abnormality occurs during advanced stages of sarcoma and are related to patient prognosis, and it is possible that aberrations in mismatch repair activity are related to sarcoma tumorigenesis.

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