BENIGN SALIVARY-GLAND TUMORS - A CYTOGENETIC STUDY OF 21 CASES

Cytogenetic findings of 21 benign salivary gland tumors, including 14 pleomorphic adenomas, 5 Warthin's tumors, 1 myoepithelioma, and 1 cyst adenoma, are reported. The present study confirms that pleomorphic ade nomas characteristically have highly specific rearrangements involving only a few chromosome regions (3p21, 8q12 and 12q13-15) which suggest s their specific role in the mixed tumors genesis. Warthin's tumors al so show nonrandom numerical and structural alterations that were concu rrent in one of the cases studied. To our knowledge no cytogenetic dat a are available in myoepitheliomas and cystadenomas. The former reveal s a normal karyotype and the latter shows only clonal numerical altera tions (gain of chromosomes 2 and 18). (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.