We have investigated the involvement of tumor suppressor genes in the genesis of osteosarcoma by analyzing allele losses at polymorphic loci in tumor tissues. Genotypes of DNA from primary osteosarcoma tissue and corresponding normal cells from 37 patients were analyzed at 58 polymorphic loci representing each autosomal chromosome arm except 5p and 20q. Allele losses were found at polymorphic loci on 36 of 37 chromosome arms analyzed. In particular, four of them showed frequencies of allele loss higher than 60%: 3q (75%); 13q (68%); 17p (72%); and 18q (64%). This result suggests that, in addition to the RB (retinoblastoma) gene on 13q and the p53 gene on 17p, at least two more tumor suppressor genes located on 3q and 18q are frequently involved in the development of osteosarcoma. The extent of allele losses as defined by fractional allelic loss among 36 tumors was diverse, from 0 to 0.64. The median fractional allelic loss value of 0.32 was much higher than those previously reported in colorectal carcinoma and breast carcinoma. Although no definite association of fractional allelic loss value to clinical prognosis of each case was found in osteosarcoma, tumors with 17p loss were more prone to the early onset of lung metastasis than tumors without 17p loss, indicating that allele loss on chromosome 17p can be a useful measure of prognosis.