Bulletin Spring‧Summer Autumn‧Winter 1999

Fig. 1 Partial karyotypes showing the normal and the deleted chromosome 3 (arrows) of three undifferentiated carcinoma of nasopharynx Fig. 2 Twopairs of chromosome 9. Thepair on the right is defective. Going One Step Further Of pa r t i cu l ar interest is segment p21 of chromosome 9, wh i ch has been suggested to contain a gene named p l 6 (now known formally as the CDKN2 gene) that shows t umour suppressor function. Its protein product inhibits a complex machinery that tells cells to divide. Its loss of function mi ght therefore lead to the uncontrolled division of cells. The p l 6 gene and its association w i th some common cancers such as melanoma, lung cancer, gliomas (the most common type of brain tumours), esophageal, pancreatic and bladder cancers, have been the focus of interest in several major cancer research centres for the past few months. It has also become the hottest and the most controversial topic in the field of genetic cancer research. One immediate task for the CUHK team wou ld be to investigate if the p l 6 gene on the short arm of chromosome 9 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma is at fault. Once the defective gene is confirmed and identified, it w i ll be important to translate this scientific information to clinical situations as early wa r n i ng markers for diagnosis of NPC and treatment such as gene-therapy. Detection of gene mutations bypolymerase chain reaction -single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis Dr. Dolly W.S. Poon Huang graduated from the University of California and took her doctorate from the University of Hong Kong. She joined The Chinese University as senior lecturer of the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology in 1986 and was promoted to reader in 1993, Dr. Huang is a member of the Royal College of Pathologists. Prof. Joseph C.K. Lee studied medicine at the University of Hong Kong and furthered his studies in pathology in the USA, He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, and is now professor of the Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology at The Chinese University. Prof. Lee is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of American Pathologists, and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. He is also honorary consultant to many local hospitals. Dr. S.F. Leung graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1982 and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists. He joined The Chinese University in 1989 as lecturer in clinical oncology. Research 12