INTERPHASE KARYOTYPIC ANALYSIS OF CHROMOSOME-11, CHROMOSOME-17 AND CHROMOSOME-X IN INVASIVE SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE CERVIX - MORPHOLOGICAL CORRELATION WITH HPV INFECTION

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been widely implicated in cer vical carcinogenesis, but it appears to be an early event, with other genetic abnormalities being required for biological transformation, In this study, interphase cytogenetic analysis of numerical abnormalitie s of chromosomes 11, 17 and X was performed on paraffin-embedded tissu e sections from 25 invasive squamous-cell carcinomas of the cervix and compared with both histopathological features and the morphological d istribution of HPV sequences as determined by in situ hybridisation, N umerical differences between chromosomes were identified in 76% of cas es, with underrepresentation of chromosomes 11 and/or 17 relative to X in 64% of the total; 22 of 25 cases were HPV-positive, containing eit her HPV 16, 18 or 31. There was no relationship between the distributi on of viral sequences and chromosomal pattern, suggesting that HPV inf ection precedes karyotypic changes. Our findings suggest that relative reduction in number of chromosomes 11 and 17 is important in the deve lopment of invasive cervical neoplasia and are consistent with the put ative presence of relevant tumour-suppressor genes on these chromosome s. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.