DETECTION OF CHROMOSOMAL-ABNORMALITIES IN UTERINE LEIOMYOMA USING CONVENTIONAL CYTOGENETIC METHOD AND INTERPHASE FLUORESCENCE IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

Seventy-nine uterine leiomyomas were examined using a conventional cyt ogenetic method and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for defe ction of chromosomal abnormalities of chromosome 12. Nine (17.6%) of 5 1 tumor samples examined showed chromosomal abnormalities by conventio nal cytogenetic analysis. Rearrangements of chromosome 12 were detecte d in two tumors. Other tumors showed abnormalities affecting chromosom es 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, and 22. For FISH, the whole-chromosome pain ting probe and the D12Z3 probe specific for the centromeric region wer e used to detect structural and numerical abnormalities of chromosome 12. Of forty-one tumor samples, six showed structural aberrations and four showed numerical aberrations of chromosome 12 by FISH analysis. O f the tumors with structural aberrations identified by FISH, two had n ormal karyotypes, two showed structural rearrangements of chromosome 1 2 cytogenetically, and two could not be analyzed because of an insuffi cient number of metaphases. There were no correlations between the cyt ogenetic data and clinical parameters. The results indicate that chrom osomal abnormalities are important in the biology of at least some typ es of uterine leiomyomas, and that FISH is a useful complement to conv entional cytogentic analysis in the study of solid tumors.