DETECTION OF NUMERICAL CHROMOSOMAL-ABERRATIONS IN PARAFFIN-EMBEDDED MALIGNANT PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA BY NONISOTOPIC IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

An in situ hybridization (ISH) study on paraffin sections of 13 malign ant mesotheliomas was performed to detect numerical chromosomal aberra tions with biotin-labelled DNA probes specific for the centromeric reg ions of chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, and 17. All chromosomes contribute d to numerical changes, which can be summarized as follows: first, a m onosomy for chromosome 6 was found in one case; second, in five cases a trisomy for at least one chromosome was detected; and third, in seve n cases a pentasomy or a higher polysomy was found for at least one ch romosome. Although these data have to be confirmed on a larger group o f patients, survival analysis of this group showed no significant diff erence between the first and second groups taken together and the thir d group. In this study no specific numerical chromosomal aberrations w ere identified. Nevertheless, numerical gains appear to be more freque nt than has previously been shown by karyotype analysis.