The Putative Oncogene PRAD1 Encodes a Novel Cyclin

Our identification and cloning of the novel cyclin PRAD1 began with the aim of characterizing a parathyroid tumor oncogene. Parathyroid adenomas are common benign tumors that cause clinical disease not by their mass per se, but by their secretion of excessive quantities of parathyroid hormone (PTH), which in turn causes hypercalcemia. Primary hyper-parathyroidism has an annual incidence of 1-2 per 1000 people and an estimated prevalence of 0.5%, can be seen at any age but is most often found after the fifth decade, and occurs more frequently in women than in men. Among patients with primary hyperparathy-roidism, 80-85 % have a single hypercellular parathy-roid gland (adenoma), about 15 % have multigland en-largement (primary h perplasia), and less than 1%