NEAR HAPLOIDY IN BREAST-CANCER - A PARTICULAR PATHWAY OF CHROMOSOME EVOLUTION

In a series of 260 cytologically abnormal breast cancers studied in ou r laboratory, we observed a single case of near-haploid karyotype: 27, X, +der(1;16)(q10;p10), +7, +14, +15. A review of published cases of n ear-haploid malignancies suggests that near haploidy belongs to a proc ess of chromosome evolution distinct from that of most epithelial canc ers in which hypodiploidy is strongly associated with the occurrence o f unbalanced structural rearrangements. In near-haploid tumors, chromo some loss is independent from chromosome rearrangements and may not be associated with an adverse prognosis. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1998 .