Evidence for genetic heterogeneity in familial Wilms' tumor

Wilms' tumor (WT), a childhood kidney cancer, occurs both sporadically and, less frequently, in a familial context. Genetic linkage studies of several large WT families have excluded the one cloned WT gene, WT1, as the locus responsible for familial predisposition. These data demonstrate the existence of a familial predisposition gene distinct from WT1 and, more broadly, imply that the genetic etiology of WT is heterogenous. However, it has been unknown whether the predisposition observed in large WT families is also heterogenous or perhaps is due to mutations at a single locus. Recently, examination of a large French-Canadian WT family has demonstrated genetic linkage to 17q12-q21. We report here the results from a genetic linkage study of six WT pedigrees. Analyses of genotype data from eight loci within the 17q12-q21 region in these families resulted in cumulative lod scores of <- 4.0 through the region, thereby excluding linkage. The ability to rule out the 17q region as the site of a predisposition gene in several of these pedigrees individually demonstrates the existence of more than one gene that predisposes to WT in large pedigrees and again emphasizes that the etiology of WT is genetically heterogenous.