Alterations of the DR5/TRAIL receptor 2 gene in non-small cell lung cancers

Chromosome 8p21-22 is a frequent site of allelic deletions in many types of human tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2) is a cell-surface receptor involved in cell death signaling. The TRAIL-R2 gene recently has been mapped to chromosome 8p21-22. To explore the possibility that the TRAIL-R2 gene might be the relevant gene to the frequent deletion of 8p21-22 in NSCLC, we have analyzed the entire coding region and all splice sites of TRAIL-R2 for the detection of the somatic mutations in a series of 104 NSCLCs. Overall, 11 tumors (10.6%) were found to have TRAIL-R2 gene mutations in the death domain known to be involved in the transduction of an apoptotic signal. Our data indicate that somatic mutation of TRAIL-R2 may play a role in the pathogenesis of some NSCLCs and that the TRAIL-R2 gene is one of the genes relevant to the frequent loss of chromosome 8p21-22 in NSCLC.