GENOMIC ALTERATIONS IN FALLOPIAN-TUBE CARCINOMA - COMPARISON TO SEROUS UTERINE AND OVARIAN CARCINOMAS REVEALS SIMILARITY SUGGESTING LIKENESS IN MOLECULAR PATHOGENESIS

Serous carcinomas of the fallopian tube, uterus, and ovary resemble ea ch other both histologically and in clinical behavior. Comparative gen omic hybridization mas performed on 20 primary fallopian tube carcinom a specimens to find regions of the genome involved in tubal carcinogen esis and to compare the genomic alterations with those previously dete cted in serous ovarian and uterine carcinomas. The most frequent chang es detected in fallopian tube carcinoma were gains at 3q (70%) and 8q (75%), with high-level amplifications in several cases. Other common g ains occurred at Iq, 5p, 7q, 12p, and 20q. The most frequent losses we re found at 18q, 8p, 4q, and 5q. The frequency and the pattern of chro mosomal changes detected in tubal carcinoma were strikingly similar to those observed in serous ovarian and uterine carcinomas, suggesting c ommon molecular pathogenesis.