Cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes play important roles in modulating the cell cycle. The CDK inhibitors (CDKIs) inhibit the kinase activities of these complexes and block the cell cycle. The p16/multiple tumor suppressor (MTS) 1/inhibitor of CDK4 (INK4) a/CDKN2 gene, a CDKI, is frequently deleted in a variety of human cancers. Recently another CDKI gene, p15/MTS2/INK4b, was cloned and localized to within 20 kb of the p16 gene. Moreover, a third CDKI gene, named p18/INK4c and having a high degree of protein homology to p16, has now been cloned. To elucidate the importance of these CDKI genes in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), we examined DNAs from 34 NSCLC samples for alterations in these genes by Southern blot and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analyses. Matched control normal tissues from the same individuals were also examined. Homozygous deletions of the p15 gene were found in three cases. Furthermore, comparative PCR analysis confirmed these deletions and suggested that one additional case had an abnormality of the p15 gene. Neither rearrangements nor deletions of the p18 gene were detected. By PCR-SSCP and direct sequencing of the aberrantly migrating bands, we detected only polymorphic nucleotide substitutions in both the p15 and p18 genes. In summary, the frequency of deletions of the p15 gene was 12% (four of 34 cases), and no point mutations in the p15 gene were detected in the NSCLCs. For the p18 gene, no abnormalities were detected. A previous analysis of these NSCLC samples for p16 gene alterations revealed that the three cases with homozygous deletions of the p15 gene also have homozygous deletions of the p16 gene.