CYTOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF 10 MALIGNANT FIBROUS HISTIOCYTOMAS

We examined 10 malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs) using metaphase preparations. Six tumors showed clonal structural and/or numerical chr omosomal aberrations, and four tumors had normal karyotypes. For the m ost part, chromosomes 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, and 20 were involved in structural aberrations. The breakpoint regions most frequently were in 1p32, 3p25, and the centromeric region of chromosomes 1 and 16. There was a conspicuous loss in chromosome 18. We detected ring chromosomes in two tumors. One tumor showed a high percentage of near-haploid cel ls. Our results show many parallels to data which have already been pu blished. MFHs include a broad spectrum of tumors of widely different h istology and clinical course. So it is not surprising to find a cytoge netic diversity of chromosomal aberrations in this study. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1998.