Mutations of CDKN2 have been found recently in melanoma and many other tumor types. Neuroblastoma shares with melanoma a neuroectodermal origin and a high incidence of deletions of the short arm of chromosome 1. Therefore, we analyzed 18 primary neuroblastomas and 9 tumor-derived cell lines for mutations in CDKN2. We used PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism to examine exons 1 and 2 of the CDKN2 gene for mutations, but none were detected. Furthermore, no homozygous deletions were detected and there was no loss of heterozygosity at the closely linked IFNA locus. We conclude that disruption of the CDKN2 gene is not required for malignant transformation of human neuroblastomas.