Theuse ofloss ofconstitutional heterozygosity data toascertain thelocation ofpredisposing genes in cancer families

A methodisdescribed toinvestigate the inheritance ofdiseasepredisposition in cancerfamilies. Itisan extension of classic geneticlinkageanalysis, which enablesinformation on lossofconstitutional heterozygosity (LOCH) to be incorporated into the model. This adaptedmodel treatsLOCH dataas additional observations on thedisease phenotype. Oneofthemajorbenefits of thisapproachisthatisolated parentoffspring pairsarenow potentially informative forlinkage analysis. Examples arepresented.