NONRANDOM CHROMOSOME-ABNORMALITIES IN SHORT-TERM CULTURED PRIMARY SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS OF THE HEAD AND NECK

We report the finding of clonal chromosome abnormalities in short-term cultures from 44 squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck region . Eleven tumors had gain or loss of the Y chromosome, sometimes one cl one with +Y and another with -Y, as the sole anomaly, whereas the rema ining 33 all carried structural rearrangements and usually were cytoge netically complex with multiple aberrations. The chromosomal bands mos t frequently involved were, in decreasing order of frequency, 8p11-q11 , 1p11-q11, 3p11-q11, 11q13, 13p11-q11, 1p13, 5p11-q11, 7p11-q11, 15p1 1-q11, and 14p11-q11. Almost one-half of the breakpoints were located in centromeric or juxtacentromeric bands. Recurrent aberrations includ ed i(8q), i(5p), i(1q), del(3)(p11-12), del(5)(p11), t(1;1)(p13;q25), and der(14;15)(q10;q10). To see whether the karyotypic features of hea d and neck squamous cell carcinoma differ depending on exact tumor sit e, we added to the present series our previously published 23 karyotyp ically abnormal head and neck squamous cell carcinomas that had been c ultured in the same way as the tumors of the present series. In the en suing correlation analysis, tumors of the oral cavity and oropharynx a nd hypopharynx were found to share many features: highly complex karyo types were frequent, often containing isochromosomes such as i(8q) and i(5p), and also rearrangements of 11q13 (often as homogeneously stain ing regions) and loss of genetic material from the short arms of chrom osomes 3, 13, 14, and 15 were repeatedly seen. Laryngeal carcinomas, o n the other hand, often had simple karyotypic changes.