Chromosome aberrations in adult Hodgkin disease in a Danish population-based study

During a 6-year period, 31 patients with Hodgkin disease (HD) rt ere analyz ed for chromosome aberrations on lymphoid tissue. We obtained metaphases in 87% (27/31). The number of cells analyzed per case ranged from 17 to 31 (m edian 25), and the number of abnormal mitoses was between 1 and 17 (median 6). Chromosome aberrations were found in 59% (16/27). Numerical aberrations involved all chromosomes. The most frequently gained chromosomes were numb ers 2 and 9, and the most frequently lost were numbers 10, 16, 21, 22, and X. Chromosomes most frequently involved in structural aberrations rr ere nu mbers 1 and 6. The most frequent subgroups rr ere nodular sclerosis (NS) (n = 16) and mixed cellularity (MC) (n = 10). Six NS patients and 8 patients with MC showed an abnormal clone. For the NS patients with an abnormal kary otype, 4 of 6 had a gain of chromosome a, and all had structural aberration s of chromosome I. Of the 6 MC patients, rr here a partial analysis was pos sible, 4 had a gain of chromosome 4, 2 had structural aberrations involving chromosome 6 and 2 of chromosome 14. In 2 case a translocation normally as sociated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) was found (t[11;14]), whereas othe r translocations characteristic of NHL, such as t(8;14), t(14;18), and t(2; 5) were not observed. A review of the literature on cytogenetic investigati ons in PID performed on lymphoid tissue short ed that the most frequently g ained or lost chromosomes rr ere 1, 2, 5, 9, and 12 for NS and 2, 5, and 9 for MC. The most frequently affected chromosomes in structural aberrations were 1 and 6 for NS, and 2, 7, and 14 for MC. Involvement of chromosome 1, 6, and 14 in structural aberrations is characteristic of lymphoid neoplasms , as are the most frequently involved bands (1p36, 6q21-q26, 14q11, and 14q 32), further supporting a B- or T-cell origin of the neoplastic cell in HD. The high hyperploidy seen in HD is not a frequent observation in NHL. Alth ough certain chromosome aberrations seem to be characteristic of HD as oppo sed to NHL, specific nonrandom aberrations have yet to be identified. The r ather low number of abnormal mitoses found in most HD cases underlies the i mportance of analyzing a large number of metaphases. (C) Elsevier Science I nc., 1999. All rights reserved.