부산대학교 도서관

Recently we reported the different frequenties of p53and c‐kitgene mutations among sinonasal NK/T cell lymphoma (NKTCL) in Korea, north China (Beijing), and Japan, suggesting some racial, environmental, or life‐style differences as a possible cause of nasal tumorigenesis. In this study, gene mutations in p53, c‐kit, K‐ras, and β‐cateningene were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) followed by direct sequencing in 20 cases of sinonasal NKTCL from northeast China (Shen Yang). Age of patients ranged from 5 to 63 (median, 40.0) years. p53gene mutations were found in eight of 20 cases (40%), with exon 4 involvement in 10% of cases. The majority was missense mutations and G:C to A:T transition was predominant. The frequency of the c‐kitand K‐ras gene mutations was low (5%), while that of the β‐cateningene was six of 20 cases (30%). From these findings, it is concluded that nasal NKTCL in northeast China shared common features with that in Korea in the younger onset of disease compared to that in Japan and lower frequency of p53gene mutations with infrequent exon 4 involvement compared to that in Japan and north China. These differences might be caused by migration of susceptible populations or some environmental confounding factors. (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 297–301)