COMPARATIVE GENOMIC HYBRIDIZATION DETECTS GENOMIC ABNORMALITIES IN 80-PERCENT OF FOLLICULAR LYMPHOMAS

Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was used to analyse 34 follicu lar lymphoma (FL) samples. 27 samples showed DNA sequence copy number changes of at least one genomic region (26 samples with at least one g ain and nine with at least one loss), Some chromosomes or chromosomal regions were preferentially involved. The most frequently gained regio ns were chromosome 18q (29% of samples), chromosome X (21%), chromosom e 7 (18%), chromosomes 2, 6p and 8q (12%), Two regions were preferenti ally lost: 6q (12%) and 17p (9%), All these gained and lost regions ha ve been previously reported in cytogenetic studies, confirming the acc uracy of CGH in detecting genetic abnormalities in FL. 21% of samples displayed normal profiles, probably reflecting the absence of unbalanc ed abnormality, which is also in agreement with the cytogenetic data. In conclusion, we showed that CGH is an accurate, reliable and rapid m ethod and we propose the inclusion of CGH in the evaluation of FL at d iagnosis.