Cloning of the Rat Homologue of the von Hippel‐Lindau Tumor Suppressor Gene and Its Non‐somatic Mutation in Rat Renal Cell Carcinomas

Recently, von Hippel‐Lindau (VHL) gene mutations were detected in non‐inherited, sporadic human renal cell carcinomas (RCs) at a high frequency. In order to determine whether or not the VHL gene is also a critical gene in rat RCs, we cloned and sequenced the rat homologue of human VHL gene and searched for mutations of the VHL gene in rat RCs. Mutations in the VHL gene were not detected in spontaneous RCs of the Eker rat model or in ferric nitrilotriacetate‐induced rat RCs using the polymerase chain reaction‐single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR‐SSCP) method. These data indicate that mutation of the VHL tumor suppressor gene is not an event in rat renal carcinogenesis, at least in our present systems.