CYTOGENETIC STUDIES OF PRIMARY CULTURES OF ESOPHAGEAL SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA

Cytogenetic analysis was performed on primary cultures of 21 squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus (SCCE). Seven cases exhibited mosaic clonal chromosome abnormalities distributed as follows: two contained tetraploid cell populations, one with t(3;7)(p21;q11); two showed loss of the Y chromosome, one with double minutes; single cases demonstrat ed der(11)t(4;11)(q?27;q23); add(1)(p35) and del(4)(p12); and del(7)(p 13), del(7)(q22q34), and der(11)t(7;11)(p?15;p?13). The remaining 14 c ases had apparently normal karyotypes, possibly derived from stromal e lements. These results demonstrate numerical abnormalities and the mul tiple occurrence of rearrangements involving chromosomes 7 and 11 in S CCE.